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College  of  ^tpgicians  anb  burgeons; 


Gipt  op 


Pk.  Mark  L.H.A.Srvo  w 


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Price,  $2.00 

From  Publisher,  Richard  B.  Noble 

Huntington  Chambers 

Boston,  Mass. 
And  all  Booksellers 


Rhythmic  Breathing 

plus 

Olfactory  Nerve  Influence 
on  Respiration 


By  author  of 

'A   Method  for   the  Millions ;'  ''The  Key  to 

Physical    Regeneration^''    ''The    House   we 

Live  i7i/'  "Nasal  Hygiene,''  "Conscious 

Relaxation  an  Effectual  Substitute  for 

Hypnosis  in    Psycho-Therapy 


PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR 


RICHARD     B.     NOBLE 

Publisher  and  Bookseller 

HUNTINGTON  CHAMBERS 

BOSTON,  MASS. 

1908 


IV  u 


Copyright,  1908 
By  RICHARD   B.    NOBLE 

ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED,  INCLUDING  THAT  OP  TRANSLATION 
INTO   SCANDINAVIAN,  AND  OTHER  FOREIGN   LANGUAGES 


Bebtcateb  to 

DEFECTIVE    BREATHERS 


PUBLISHER'S    NOTE 

This  illustrated  lesson-book  on  Rhythmic 
Breathing-  plus  Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  on 
Respiration,  will  be  found  to  be  of  equal 
value  to  the  child  or  the  adult.  It  is  offered 
to  the  public  in  the  interests  of  an  organiza- 
tion, for  better  lung  development  in  children, 
— a  crusade  organized  and  chartered' in  1906, 
now  internationally  recognized  as  one  of  the 
most  important  educational  movements  of 
the  twentieth  century,  one  that  will  leave 
its  imprint  on  coming  generations. 

Richard  B.  Noble. 

Publisher,  Huntington  Chambers, 
Boston,  Mass. 


OBJECT  OF  THE  CRUSADE 

To  establish  centers  in  all  large  cities, 
where  parents  and  teachers  may  obtain  free 
scientific  instruction  and  practical  sugges- 
tions for  the  prevention  of  nasal  and  pul- 
monary troubles  in  children. 

During  a  recent  visit  to  Washington, 
D.  C,  to  lecture  (by  the  invitation  of  the 
Board  of  Education  of  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, Washington,  D.  C.)  the  founder 
personally  invited  the  fullest  investigation 
of  this  Crusade,  of  the  Surgeons-General  of 
the  Army,  Navy  and  Marine  Hospital  Ser- 
vice. And  the  Board  of  Directors  of  this 
Crusade  and  organization,  cordially  invite  the 
investigation  and  co-operation  of  all  State  and 
Municipal  Boards  of  Health  and  Education. 

Much  of  the  work  of  this  Crusade  is  free. 

During  the  past  two  years,  more  than  ten 
thousand  mothers  and  teachers  and  children 
have  been  instructed.  All  are  urged  to  join 
an  endless  chain  of  Crusaders,  and  unite  in 
gaining  knowledge  that  will  stamp  out  the 
greatest  menace  to  the  lives  of  children  the 
world  has  ever  known. 


CONTENTS 

LESSON  PAGE 

1.  The  Chemistry  of  Breath  1 

2.  Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  on 

Respiration  3 

3.  Better  Lung  Development  for 

Children  12 

4.  First   Aid   for   Prevention   of 

Catarrh  and  Pulmonary 
Affections  (from  author's 
address  before  American  In- 
ternational Congress,  1906)        20 

5.  The  Cellular  Process  of  Body 

Building  28 

6.  "Simplified"  Dietetics  37 

7.  Obesity,  Cause  and  Prevention  52 

8.  "Simplified"    Voice    Building 

(Voice  Pictures)  62 

9.  Origin  of  Music  (East  Indian 

Tradition)  81 

10.  Controlled       Breathing — the 

Basic  Principle  of  Muscu- 
lar Energy  88 

11.  Rhythm  AND  Contour  Culture     99 

12.  First  Aid  to  Longevity  109 
Introduction  to  Exercises  121 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Olfactory     Bulb     with     Its     Nerves. 

(Dalton)        ....         Facing 

4 

Diagram  of  Cells  and  Fibers  in  Olfac- 

tory Region  ....             " 

5 

Nerves  of  the  Outer  Wall  of  the  Nasal 

Fossae  .          .          .          .          .             " 

6 

Olfactory    Nerves     (Herschfeld    and 

Leveille)        .... 

6 

An  Oriental  Baby  (High  Caste)    . 

12 

An  English  Child         ... 

13 

An  American  Child      .          .          .             " 

14 

Public  School  Girl  (Mouth  Breather)       " 

15 

Public  School  Boy   (Mouth  Breather) 

15 

Test  Cases  (Common  Types  in  Public 

Schools)  : 

Shallow  Breather   (Starving  for 

Oxygen)          ...              " 

i6 

Same  Girl^   Two  Weeks   Later           " 

i6 

Mouth  Breather  (Boy)   .          .             " 

17 

Same  Boy  Two  Weeks  Later             " 

17 

Shallow  Breather   (Starving  for 

Oxygen)           .          .          .              " 

i8 

Same  Boy  After  Three  Weeks' 

Training          ...             " 

i8 

A  Defective  Breather  (Before)             " 

19 

Same    Girl    After    Two   Weeks' 

Training          ...              " 

19 

Metric  Table  and  Harmonic  Scale             " 

76 

Metric    Table    and    Harmonic    Scale 
(Bleyer  and  M.  M.  Wilson)   . 


76 


xii  Illustrations 

PAGE 

Voice  Figures  (Bleyer)  .  .  Facing  76 
Voice  Pictures    (Mrs.   Hughes)    (by 

permission)    ....  "77 

Voice  Figures  (Chladni)       .          .  "77 

The  Vina  of  India  ...  "80 
Exercise      for      Developing      Lung 

Power            ....  "88 

Exercise  for  Strengthening  Chest  and 

Ribs "89 

Rhythmic  Development  of  Muscles  "  93 

Modern   Contours         ...  "         loi 

Homer         .  .  .  .  .  "        1120 

How  to  Energize  Circulation  and  Flat- 
ten  Shoulder   Blades        .  "         121 

How  to  Re-establish  Rhythmic  Breath         "         126 

How  to  Energize  Muscles  and  Arouse 

Nerve  Energy  by  Stretching  Ex-  • 

ercises  in  Bed        ...  "         126 

Right  Way  to  Stand  and  Walk       .  "         127 

Energizing    Whole    Body    Through 

Breath  Control       .  .  .        <     "         127 

Skeleton  of  Ribs,  Showing  Attach- 
ments of  Cartilage  .  .  "         128 

Exercise    for    Reducing    Hips    and 

Waist "129 

Exercise  for  Reducing  Generally  .  "         129 


LESSON    1 

THE   CHEMISTRY   OF   BREATH    IN 

ITS   RELATION   TO   PHYSICAL 

EFFICIENCY 

.     .     .     "And  a  small  drop  of  ink, 
Falling  like  dew  upon  a  thought,  produces 
That  which  makes  thousands,  perhaps  millions,  think." 
— From  mural  inscriptions,  Congressional  Library, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

"I  am  in  health.     I  breathe." — Shakespeare. 

The  Alpha  and  Omega  (the  beginning 
and  the  end)  of  Hfe  remain  obscured  in  the 
mists  of  past  centuries. 

Up  to  date  the  most  practical  solution  of 
life's  eternal  mystery,  is,  that  to  remain  alive, 
even  for  a  few  minutes,  we  must  breathe. 
The  cessation  of  breathing,  constitutes  the 
dissolution  of  all  bodily  functions,  in  what  is 
called  death. 

Modern  scientific  research  proves  that 
every  material  connected  with  life  is  a  chem- 
ical substance,  and  that  physical  life  abounds 
in  chemicals,  which  are  apparently  inert  un- 
til brought  into  electro-chemic  activity  by 
the  absorption  of  oxygen,  through  the  nat- 


2  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

ural  and  automatic  function  of  rhythmic 
breathing. 

Chemical  structures  find  their  way  into 
the  blood  through  the  route  of  digestion  and 
assimilation  of  food  stuffs,  but  are  not  ready 
for  absorption  into  the  chemical  process  of 
body  building,  until  their  potential  energy 
has  been  liberated  by  oxygen.  We  live  in  an 
electrical  era,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  as- 
sume that  the  highest  electrical  vibration  in 
this  sphere  is  human  life. 

Back  of  it  all  is  the  one  eternal  first  cause 
known  as  universal  energy,  creating  by  its 
different  rates  of  vibration  all  the  physical 
phenomena  of  which  man  is  conscious. 

In  the  Western  Hemisphere  rhythmic 
breathing  plus  olfactory  nerve  influence  on 
respiration  (as  designed  by  nature)  is  com- 
paratively a  lost  art. 

"The  foundation  of  every  state  is  the  education  of  its 
youth." — Dionysius. 

It  is  in  the  interests  of  millions  of  defective 
breathing  children  in  homes  and  public 
schools,  that  this  lesson-book  is  offered  to 
parents  and  teachers. 


LESSON  2 

OLFACTORY  NERVE  INFLUENCE 
ON  RESPIRATION 

"There  is  only  one  good,  namely  knowledge.  And  only 
one  evil,  namely  ignorance." — Socrates,  Diogenes  Laertius, 
Sec.  XIV. 

As  the  chief  sentinel  of  the  respiratory 
tract,  the  nose  has  a  function  second  to  none 
in  physiological  value.  The  muscles  of  res- 
piration begin  in  the  nostrils  with  two  tiny 
sets  called  dilators  and  constrictors  (their 
Latin  names  are  devoid  of  meaning  for  the 
average  reader.  This  book  is  intended  for 
practical  use  among  the  laity). 

It  is  just  inside  the  lower  edges  of  the  nos- 
trils that  the  process  of  filtering  the  air  we 
breathe  begins,  for  which  purpose  we  find 
a  growth  of  short  hairs  called  vibrissae. 

Another  function  of  the  nose  is  to  moisten 
and  raise  the  temperature  of  the  air  on  its 
route  to  the  lungs.  Its  mucous  secretions 
(in  normal  health)  have  probably  a  steriliz- 
ing or  germicidal  action  on  the  air  inhaled. 
Another  function  of  the  nose  controls  the 


4  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

resonators,  or  sound  cavities,  of  the  voice, 
which  are  closely  connected  with  the  nasal 
passages. 

Jean  de  Reszke,  one  of  the  most  prom- 
inent authorities  of  the  age  on  voice  build- 
ing and  tone  placing,  is  reported  to  have  said : 
''La  grande  question  du  chant  devient  une 
question  du  nez"  (the  great  question  of  sing- 
ing becomes  a  question  of  the  nose). 

In  the  olfactory  region  of  the  nasal  fossae 
can  be  found  the  olfactory  bulb.  See  cut 
(Dalton). 

Some  of  the  terminals  of  the  olfactory 
nerve  bulb — the  rod,  or  olfactory  nerve  cells — 
were  discovered  by  Schultze,  and  a  distri- 
bution of  glands,  by  Bowman  (see  cut). 
Some  of  which  glands  and  nerves  are 
not  entirely  confined  to  the  olfactory  mucous 
membrane;  they  are  now  believed  to  extend 
beyond  it  and  into  the  respiratory  parts  of 
the  fossae.  (For  further  and  more  scientific 
elucidation  the  scientific  student  is  referred 
to  Laurens'  "Surgery  on  Nose,  Throat  and 
Ear,"  or  any  good  work  on  the  anatomy  of 
the  nasal  cavities.) 

The  author  is  trying  to  simplify  this  chap- 
ter for  the  laity.     Many  practical  experi- 


1,  OLFACTORY  BULB    WITH    ITS    NERVES 

2,  NASAL    BRANCH    OF    THE    FIFTH     PAIR    OF 

CRANIAL    NERVES 

3,  SPHENO-PALATINE   GANGLION 

(Dalton's  distribution   of   nerves  in  nasal 
passages) 


C.     AN      OLFACTORY      CELL.      HUMAN.        (v.    Brunn) 


DIAGRAM    OF    THE    CONNECTIONS    OF   CELLS   AND   FIBERS    IN    THE 
OLFACTORY  BULB 

olf.  c,  cells  of  the  olfactory  mucous  membrane;  olf.  n., 
deepest  layer  of  the  bulb  composed  of  the  olfactory  nerve- 
fibers,  which  are  prolonged  from  the  olfactory  cells ;  gl., 
olfactory  glomeruli,  containing  arborizations  of  the  olfac- 
tory nerve-fibers  and  of  the  dendrons  of  the  mitral  cells ; 
m.c,  mitral  cells,  a,  their  axis-cylinder  processes  passing 
toward  the  nerve-fiber  layer,  n.tr.,  of  the  bulb  to  become 
continuous  with  fibers  of  the  olfactory  tract;  these  axis- 
cylinder  processes  are  seen  to  give  off  collaterals,  some  of 
which  pass  again  into  the  deeper  layers  of  the  bulb;  n,  a 
nerve-fiber  from  the  olfactory  tract  ramifying  in  the  gray 
matter  of  the  bulb. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  5 

ments  and  tests  along  the  lines  of  olfactory 
nerve  influence  in  controlling  respiration  and 
in  which  there  have  been  no  failures  have 
been  made  during  the  last  three  years  on  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  patients. 

No  claim  is  made  for  a  new  and  startling 
discovery. 

No  enthusiastic  theory  is  advanced  that 
people  must  swallow  "cum  grano  salis." 

Merely  a  simple  and  practical  adaptation 
of  a  method  that  has  been  common  in  the 
Orient  for  the  past  four  thousand  years  of 
daily  utilizing  olfactory  nerve  influence  in 
the  control  of  respiration. 

Fullest  investigation  (by  those  qualified 
to  judge)  is  invited,  and  a  crowd  of  living 
witnesses,  of  all  ages  from  five  to  seventy- 
five,  can  demonstrate  the  efficacy  of  this 
method  in  preventing  and  curing  catarrhal 
and  other  respiratory  troubles  of  the  nose, 
throat  and  bronchi,  and  rendering  them  com- 
paratively free  from  colds,  etc. 

"He  who  tastes  a  single  grain  of  mustard  seed,  knows 
more  of  its  flavor  than  he  who  sees  an  elephant  load  of  it." 
— Old  Sanscrit  Proverb. 

(4  All  muscles  controlling  the  respiratory 
tract  were  desi2:ned  for  use.     Muscular  ac- 


6  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

tivity  can  only  find  volition  through  expendi- 
ture of  nervous  energy  from  some  nerve 
center.  .  The  olfactory  bulb  is  an  important 
nerve  center. 

Some,  perhaps,  who  read  this  will  impa- 
tiently set  aside  these  views  as  visionary  or 
not  in  accordance  with  the  anatomical  history 
of  the  Western  world. 

It  seems  to  be  what  Mark  Twain  has  called 
the  cussedness  of  "human  nature"  to  raise 
up  barriers  against  progressive  innovations 
and  condemn  them  without  investigation. 

"The  friction  which  prejudice  causes  can  only  be  over-^ 
come  by  the  spread  of  knowledge." 

It  is  well  to  profit  by  the  mistakes  of  those 
who  have  passed  on.  In  the  English  medical 
records  one  may  still  read  that  when  Sir 
James  Simpson  introduced  chloroform  as  an 
inhalent  in  surgery  he  was  bitterly  opposed 
by  the  medical  faculty,  who  said,  "We  vio- 
late the  boundaries  of  our  noble  profession 
when  we  urge  or  seduce  our  fellowmen,  for 
the  sake  of  avoiding  pain,  to  pass  into  a  state 
of  existence  the  secrets  of  which  we  know 
so  little."  Even  his  church  decided  he  was 
committing  wilful  sin  and  turned  him  out. 


NERVES    OF    THE   OUTER   WALL    OF    THE    NASAL    FOSS^.        (From 

Sappey,  after  Hirschfeld  and  Leveille)   Ys 

I,  network  of  the  branches  of  the  olfactory  nerve,  de- 
scending upon  the  region  of  the  superior  and  middle 
turbinated  bones;  2,  external  twig  of  the  nasal  nerve; 
3,  spheno-palatine  ganglion ;  4,  ramification  of  the  large 
palatine  nerve;  5,  small,  and  6,  external  turbinated  bones; 

7,  branch   to  the   region   of  the   mferior   turbinated  bone ; 

8,  branch  to  the  region  of  the  superior  and  middle  turbi- 
nated bones ;  9,  naso-palatine  branch  to  the  septum  cut 
short. 


^jfTii   i7v"viia 


xi^ 


XII 


FROM    SAPPEY,    AFTER    HIRSCHFELD    AND    LEVEILLE 

I,  The  olfactory  bulb;  i,  the  olfactory  nerves  passing 
through  the  foramina  of  the  cribriform  plate  and  descend- 
ing to  be  distributed  on  the  septum ;  2,  the  internal  or 
septal  twig  of  the  nasal  branch  of  the  ophthalmic  nerve; 
3,  nasal  palatine  nerves. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  7 

To-day — only  fifty  years  later — Dr.  Osier 
writes,  ''Search  the  scriptures  of  human 
achievement  and  you  cannot  parallel  in 
beneficence  Anesthesia,  Sanitation,  with  all 
that  it  includes,  and  Asepsis — a  short  half 
century's  contribution  toward  the  practical 
solution  of  the  problems  of  human  suffering, 
before  regarded  as  eternal  and  insoluble." 

Although  the  inventions  and  discoveries 
of  modern  date  are  stupendous  in  their  mag- 
nitude and  profound  in  their  depth,  too  little 
is  yet  known  of  the  laws  which  govern  the 
finer  forces  of  Nature. 

There  is  no  limit  to  human  possibilities, 
but  even  for  the  most  vital  among  us  the 
span  of  life  is  very  short,  and  we  should 
welcome  any  rational  method  for  the  allevia- 
tion of  pain  and  the  possibility  of  prolonging 
the  days  of  human  existence. 

If  the  seeds  that  have  been  sown  by  this 
Crusade  (in  the  interests  of  which  this  book 
is  offered  to  the  public)  take  root,  correct 
respiration  and  nasal  hygiene  will  become  a 
national  habit  in  the  near  future. 

It  was  Priestley  who  discovered  that  at- 
mospheric oxygen  possessed  the  property  of 
converting  venous  into  arterial  blood.     La- 


8  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

voisier  was  the  next  on  record  to  amplify  the 
discovery,  and  he  founded  the  chemical 
theory  of  respiration.  Later,  1788,  Goodwyn 
discovered  and  proved  that  when  air  was 
excluded  from  venous  blood  it  remained  un- 
changed and  death  followed.  Of  later  date 
still,  among  the  most  reliable  and  scientific 
writers  and  contributors  on  the  subject  of 
respiration  can  be  found  the  illustrious 
names  of  Bichot,  Spallanzani,  W.  F.  Ed- 
wards (whose  work,  "Influence  des  agens 
physiques  sur  la  vie,''  remains  a  monument 
to  scientific  investigation  and  research). 
The  distinguished  chemist  Dumas  has  calcu- 
lated that  the  oxygen  consumed  by  all  animal 
life  on  the  surface  of  our  globe  during  one 
hundred  years  would  not  amount  to  more 
than  j^QQ  of  the  quantity  in  our  atmosphere. 
The  human  lungs  have  been  described  as 
an  aggregation  of  bronchial  tubelets  and  air- 
sacs.  The  air  cells  of  the  lungs  are  very 
minute,  and  yet  between  every  one  of  them 
run  the  capillary  blood  vessels.  It  is  here 
that  the  interchange  of  gases  takes  place 
through  the  delicate  walls  of  the  air-sacs  and 
capillaries,  the  blood  giving  up  its  carbonic 
acid  gas  in  exchange  for  oxygen. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  9 

The  lungs  have  a  plentiful  supply  of 
nerves,  originating  in  both  the  cranial  and 
sympathetic  systems.  Some  of  these  nerves 
control  respiration,  which  in  the  human  be- 
ing has  a  double  function — the  interchange 
of  gases  between  the  blood  and  the  atmos- 
phere, and  also,  when  respiration  is  normal, 
the  rhythmic  vibration  of  all  the  organs  of 
the  body. 

It  is  respectfully  suggested  that  the  reader 
now  lay  down  this  book  and  prove  for  him- 
self or  herself  the  meaning  of  the  writer  and 
the  simplicity  of  the  method.  It  will  take 
about  two  weeks'  time  to  break  the  old  habit 
of  shallow  breathing.  The  simplicity  of  the 
method  can  he  proved  in  two  minutes! 

Normal  breathing  involves  the  function  of 
smelling. 

Stand  by  an  open  window,  if  convenient, 
and  in  imagination  smell  a  favorite  flower 
or  fruit,  or  choice  brand  of  cigar,  on  a  long, 
gentle  inhalation,  and  it  will  be  found  that 
the  whole  respiratory  tract  will  respond 
without  muscular  effort.  This  merely  proves 
that  physical  rhythm  without  muscular  effort 
is  possible.  The  method  is  not  complete, 
however,  without  some  special  training  for 


10  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

the  nostrils  and  nasal  cavities.  ( See  lessons 
at  end  of  book.) 

Particular  attention  is  called  to  photo- 
graphs of  children  illustrating  the  next  les- 
son, whose  defective  breathing  was  entirely 
overcome  by  two  weeks'  tuition,  and  whose 
blood  test  proved  a  marvelous  change  in  qual- 
ity and  activity.  We  note  that  after  a  short 
tuition  in  this  method  the  chest  has  a  natural 
tendency  to  remain  high  and  expanded.  All 
chest  diameters  expand  with  normal  rhythm, 
and  the  lungs  automatically  change  their 
residual  air  without  conscious  muscular 
effort. 

The  olfactory  nerve  bulb  was  undoubtedly 
designed  and  placed  by  nature  in  close  con- 
nection zvith  the  nasal  cavities,  that  it  may 
take  an  active  part  in  the  function  of  res- 
piration as  well  as  that  of  sensing  odors.  It 
is  more  than  probable  that  out  of  the  great 
atmospheric  ocean,  oxygen  conveys  to  our 
blood  finer  forces  than  its  name  implies. 
Chemistry  has  not  yet  clearly  defined  oxygen, 
but  we  have  proof  that  every  known  sub- 
stance on  earth  can  be  found  in  a  rarefied 
form  in  the  atmosphere. 

The  chemistry  and  physiological  action  of 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  11 

many  functions  of  the  different  nerve  centers 
is  still  somewhat  obscure,  but  the  action  of 
the  olfactory  nerve  influence  in  controlling 
and  aiding  the  respiratory  muscles  cannot  be 
disproved,  although  very  few  physiologists 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere  are  familiar 
with  the  nervous  mechanism  that  controls 
respiration. 

The  special  office  of  respiration  is  oxygen- 
ization  of  the  blood.  The  presence  of  oxygen 
in  the  human  system  is  necessary  to  life.  Its 
vital  activity  is  both  creative  and  destructive. 
Through  the  rhythmic  process  of  inhalation 
and  exhalation,  oxygen  is  constantly  drawn 
into  the  system  with  every  breath  and  as  con- 
stantly exhaled  (after  its  mysterious  electro- 
chemic  interchange  of  gases  in  Nature's  lab- 
oratory) as  carbonic  acid  gas. 

If  through  defective  or  shallozv  breathing 
the  blood  does  not  get  a  normal  supply  of  oxy- 
gen, the  process  of  cellular  tissue  building  is 
impaired  or  broken  down,  and  there  is  a  gen- 
eral depression  of  all  bodily  functions. 


LESSON   3 

BETTER  LUNG  DEVELOPMENT  FOR 
CHILDREN 

PLUS 

OLFACTORY  NERVE  INFLUENCE 
ON  RESPIRATION 

In  talking  to  parents  and  teachers  we  base 
our  statements  on  incontrovertible  facts. 

First,  we  must  recognize  that  we  and  our 
bodies  are  separate  entities,  hence  the  body 
can  only  express  itself  as  far  as  we  control 
its  functions. 

Second,  that  breath  is  life,  inasmuch  as  it 
controls  the  double  function  of  the  blood 
stream  and  the  chemical  affinity  of  the  three 
natural  sources  of  life,  i.e.,  air,  food  and 
water. 

Third,  that  a  fertile  source  of  nasal  and 
throat  trouble  among  children  originates  in 
a  lack  of  physical  resistance,  caused  by  in- 
sufficient lung  development. 

The  prevention  of  nasal  and  pulmonary 
tendencies  rests  largely  in  the  hands  of 
mothers  and  school  teachers,  who,  in  the  cul- 


A    RHYTHMIC    BREATHER    OF    THREE    YEARS 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  13 

tivation  of  better  lung  power  and  resistance 
to  disease  in  the  little  ones,  hold  the  solution 
to  the  greatest  problem  the  modern  world 
has  to  face. 

Let  us  consider  the  key  to  daily  physical 
regeneration,  and  plan  that  more  should  be 
done  for  the  daily  care  of  the  health  of  the 
children  in  the  homes  and  the  kindergartens. 
Take  first  the  key  to  life  itself — the  function 
of  breathing. 

Rhythmic  breathing  controls  not  only 
the  lung  power  and  the  double  function 
of  the  blood  stream,  but  every  organ 
and  nerve  center  in  the  body,  including  the 
brains. 

The  nostrils  and  the  mouth  are  the  direct 
gateways  toward  the  lungs.  The  mouth  is 
the  portal  common  to  the  chest  and  the  ab- 
domen, too  often,  alas,  left  ajar,  but  the  nos- 
trils were  designed  by  Nature  to  have  special 
route  to  the  lungs.  It  is  always  possible 
through  fear  or  ignorance  to  attach  too  much 
importance  to  the  germ  theory  of  infection 
and  too  little  significance  to  resistance  to 
disease,  which  in  normal  health  can  easily  be 
made  a  daily  habit.  It  is  only  in  cases  of  run- 
down, debilitated  nerve  force  or  impaired 


14  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

nutrition  of  the  body  that  infection  from  any 
source  is  possible. 

Breath  belongs  to  the  involuntary  func- 
tions of  the  body,  and  a  natural  rhythm  of 
breathing  which  vibrates  the  whole  body  is 
the  birthright  of  every  child  of  high  or  low 
degree,  but  we  of  the  Occident  have  lost  this 
rhythm,  and  although  all  children  are  born 
with  it,  it  is  lost  at  a  very  early  age  through 
imitation,  habit,  nasal  troubles  and  mouth 
breathing. 

In  spite  of  the  enormous  effort  and  large 
expense  connected  with  the  education  of  pub- 
lic school  children  in  the  item  of  physical 
culture,  it  can  readily  be  proved  scientifically 
and  anatomically,  that  very  few  children,  and 
not  all  school-teachers,  are  using  more  than  a 
small  percentage  of  their  natural  breathing 
capacity.  Even  trained  athletes  in  many  in- 
stances, from  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  Na- 
ture's rhythm,  are  reversing  the  function  of 
the  diaphragm,  and  overtaxing  their  lung 
capacity. 

"He  who  only  half  breathes  only  half  lives." 

Fortunately  for  the  rising  generation, 
the  natural  rhythmic  breath  can  easily  be 


A    NATURAL    BREATHER 


WRONG   WAY  TO    STAND  AND  WALK 

Note  the  sunken  chest,  caused  by  shallow 
breathing,  the  open  lips,  the  lack  of  contour 
and  the  ill-formed  body. 


MOUTH    BREATHER.       (Tcst    CaSc) 

(Common  type  in  public  schools) 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  15 

taught,  and  once  re-established  in  the  child 
or  adult,  will  take  care  of  itself  automatically 
without  conscious  muscular  effort. 

Control  of  the  breath  means  also  control 
of  the  nerves,  and  is  the  secret  of  the  calm 
stoicism,  the  dignity  of  bearing,  the  dynamic 
energy  and  splendid  physical  endurance  of 
both  sexes  among  the  Oriental  races. 

Our  conscious  part  in  body  building,  such 
as  the  selection  of  our  environment,  the  air 
we  breathe,  the  effect  of  diet,  etc.,  are  im- 
portant factors  in  their  relation  to  the  ner- 
vous system  and  its  control  of  nutrition. 

Nervous  exhaustion  is  very  common 
among  brain  workers  of  any  class,  and  orig- 
inates generally  (apart  from  shock)  in  an 
overtaxing  of  physical  endurance.  Every 
effort,  either  mental  or  physical,  involves  the 
expenditure  of  a  certain  amount  of  nerve 
energy,  which  in  normal  health  is  readily 
restored  from  day  to  day  by  proper  attention 
to  air,  food,  sleep  and  hygiene.  The  circu- 
latory system  follows  the  nervous  system 
like  its  shadow,  and  while  the  nerves  supply 
the  volition  and  motive  power  of  our  bodies, 
it  is  the  blood  that  supplies  the  nervous  sys- 
tem with  nutrition,  and  as  the  quantity  and 


16  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

quality  of  our  blood  is  largely  governed  by 
our  habits  of  living,  the  air  we  breathe,  the 
food  we  eat  and  what  we  drink,  we  become  to 
some  extent  our  own  body  builders  or  de- 
stroyers. 

A  little  practical  investigation  along  these 
lines  will  soon  convince  the  most  skeptical  of 
health  and  school  board  officials  that  not  only 
has  the  average  school  child  acquired  the 
wrong  method  of  breathing,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence is  only  half  alive,  but  that  in  one 
month's  time  any  normal  child  of  any  age 
could  be  taught  to  re-establish  his  birthright 
of  rhythmic  breath  and  make  rapid  gain  in 
weight  and  mental  and  physical  growth. 

One  of  the  best-known  high  school  prin- 
cipals writes:  "I  am  simply  amazed  at  the 
permanent  benefit  I  have  received  from 
rhythmic  breathing.  This  is  the  greatest 
thing  that  has  come  into  my  life  as  a  regen- 
erating force.  I  wish  it  might  be  taught  to 
all  children.  I  am  thoroughly  of  the  belief 
that  it  would  eliminate  the  catarrhal  and 
pulmonary  troubles  characteristic  of  this 
climate." 

A  well-known  director  of  music  in  public 
schools  writes :  ''I  have  investigated  this  sys- 


SHALLOW    BREATHER 

(Starving  for  oxygen.)      (Test  case) 


SAME  CHILD,   TWO  WEEKS   LATER 

(Test  case) 


MOUTH    BREATHER.       (Test    CaSc) 

(Common  type  in  public  schools) 


'predisposed"  to  tuberculosis  child  after  two  weeks 
training  in  rhythmic  breathing 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  17 

tern  and  believe  it  to  be  the  most  effective  in 
placing  the  voice  (the  speaking  voice  and 
the  singing  voice). 

"Moreover,  I  believe  this  rhythmic  breath 
can  easily  be  re-established  in  children  of  any 
age  or  grade  and  that  it  should  be  taught  in 
every  school. 

"No  one  can  estimate  the  value  of  the 
work  to  little  children." 

It  is  only  recently  the  discovery  has  been 
made  that  all  physical  regenerating  forces 
are  correlated,  and  that  the  nervous  and  cir- 
culatory systems  are  so  closely  related  that 
both  are  controlled  by  the  rhythmic  breath. 
The  writer  is  often  asked  for  a  definition  of 
rhythm  in  breathing. 

In  any  good  physiological  sketch  of  the 
lungs,  it  will  be  noticed  that  when  fully  ex- 
panded the  lower  edges  of  the  lungs  rest 
upon  a  slightly  arched  muscle  called  the  dia- 
phragm, a  muscle  that  divides  the  chest  and 
its  contents  from  those  of  the  abdominal 
cavity. 

In  the  rhythmic  breath  with  which  Nature 
endowed  us  all,  hut  which  so  many  of  us  have 
lost  or  reversed,  the  lower  edges  of  the  ex- 
panded  lungs   press   downward   upon   this 


18  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

arch,  causing  it  with  every  inhalation  to  take 
a  rhythmic  dip  into  the  abdominal  cavity, 
thus  creating  a  slight  movement  or  vibration 
of  the  contents  of  the  abdomen  and  at  the 
same  time  compelling  a  slight  outward  ex- 
pansion of  the  abdominal  walls.  This  move- 
ment is  simultaneous  in  correct  breathing 
with  an  outward  expansion  of  all  the  chest 
diameters. 

This  rhythm  was  designed  by  Nature  to 
govern  nerve  energy  and  the  blood  supply. 
Once  re-established  in  the  child  or  adult,  it  is 
one  of  the  few  things  in  life  that  becomes 
automatic  and  permanent. 

If  this  explanation  is  not  clear,  notice  the 
rhythm  of  a  baby's  bare  body  after  its  bath. 
In  the  child's  unconscious  expression  of  life 
it  will  readily  be  realized  that  rhythm  is  the 
baby's  birthright. 

The  mysterious  processes  of  ''the  house  we 
live  in"  are  so  stupendous  in  their  complex- 
ity that  the  poet  Arnold  in  his  "Light  of 
Asia"  has  well  described  them  as  "wonder- 
ful, subtle,  sacred." 

For  the  people  of  the  Western  world  we  do 
not  advocate  the  Yogi  system  of  breathing, 
so   commonly   used   for   concentration   and 


SHALLOW    BREATHER 

(Starving  for  oxygen) 


SAME   BOY,    AFTER    THREE    WEEKS'    TUITION    IN    RHYTHMIC 

BREATHING.     (Tcst  cQse.    All  tcst  cascs  are  made  under 
Board  of  Health  supervision) 


A   DEFECTIVE  BREATHER 

(Before) 


SAME    GIRL 

(After  two  weeks'  tuition  in  rhythmic  breathing) 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  19 

meditation  exercises  by  the  monks  and  as- 
cetics of  the  religious  brotherhoods  of  India. 
The  word  Yogi  means  "to  join  together." 
It  is  connected  with  breathing  exercises  in 
India  for  arousing  the  psychic  or  spiritual 
side  of  the  nature,  and  is  only  suited  to  people 
who  are  no  longer  concerned  with  the  hurry 
of  labor  and  rush  of  feet  in  the  work-a-day 
world. 

In  India  the  Yogi  breath  is  used  ex- 
clusively by  those  qualifying  for  the  religious 
life. 

For  further  elucidation  on  better  lung  de- 
velopment for  children,  study  carefully  pre- 
ceding chapter  on  Olfactory  Nerve  Influence 
on  Respiration.  The  cuts  accompanying  this 
chapter  are  test  cases  of  recent  date.  For 
details  see  end  of  book. 


LESSON   4 

FIRST   AID   FOR   PREVENTION   OF 

CATARRH  AND  PULMONARY 

AFFECTIONS 

"We  grasp  at  shadows,  and  lose  the  substance." — Handel. 

In  a  pamphlet  recently  published  by  a  lay 
organization  in  a  large  city  for  the  use  of 
teachers  on  the  prevention  of  tuberculosis, 
one  reads:  ''The  struggle  with  tuberculosis 
demands  the  mobilization  of  all  social  forces, 
public  and  private,  official  and  voluntary," 
and  the  statement  is  made  that  tuberculosis 
is  not  hereditary,  contagious,  or  incurable; 
then  follow  some  suggestions  with  regard  to 
diet,  habits  and  care  of  the  consumptive; 
street  cleaning,  and  methods  for  prevention, 
etc.  And  yet,  although  these  instructions 
are  issued  for  the  use  of  school-teachers,  not 
a  word  is  said,  or  suggestion  made,  as  to  cor- 
rect breathing  for  children — the  only  really 
scientific  key  to  the  prevention  of  pulmonary 
troubles  and  tuberculosis  generally. 

It  is  a  well-established  fact  that  even  in 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  21 

these  days  every  child  is  born  using  its  full 
lung  capacity.  It  loses  this  power  in  its 
early  school  days,  through  lack  of  care  and 
training  on  the  part  of  its  parents  and  teach- 
ers, and  as  a  consequence  grows  up  using 
only  about  one-sixth  part  of  its  lung  capacity. 
Unfortunately,  through  lack  of  knowledge, 
many  of  the  parents  and  teachers  are  doing 
no  better  than  the  children  in  the  matter  of 
breathing,  the  majority  of  them  using  their 
upper  chest  breath  instead  of  the  full  lung 
rhythm.  The  rhythmic  breath,  which  every 
one  is  born  with,  means  a  constant,  though 
subconscious,  rhythm  of  the  whole  body,  by 
which  the  lungs  gain  more  elasticity,  and  a 
rhythmic  descent  of  the  diaphragm  is  com- 
pelled zvith  every  breath.  This  moves  every 
internal  organ  and  controls  the  circulation 
of  the  blood,  and  enables  the  lungs  to  elim- 
inate, without  undue  chest  expansion,  about 
thirty  per  cent,  of  the  waste  material  of  the 
body  in  the  form  of  poisonous  vapor,  which 
is  constantly  generating  in  the  system 
through  its  electro-chemic  processes.  There 
are  only  three  sources  of  life — food,  air  and 
water — breathing  controls  them  all. 

Respiratory  exercises  and  correct  breath- 


22  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

ing  is  an  absolute  preventative  of  pulmo- 
nary troubles. 

As  a  result  of  the  author's  studies  in  the 
far  East,  now  embodied  in  a  simple,  though 
scientific,  ''Method  for  the  Millions,"  who 
only  half  breathe,  any  one  can  readily  learn 
how  to  re-establish  (without  muscular 
effort)  the  rhythmic  breath  which  is  our 
birthright.  We  have  no  hesitation  in  making 
this  statement,  because  this  knowledge  of 
correct  breathing  w^as  gained  during  a  long 
sojourn  in  a  country  inhabited  by  about  four 
hundred  million  people,  where  children  are 
taught  the  daily  habit  of  full  lung  inflation 
as  a  religious  duty,  and  it  goes  without  say- 
ing that  nasal  diseases  and  pulmonary 
troubles  among  these  people  are  compara- 
tively rare,  and  this  in  a  tropical  climate, 
where  lack  of  water  and  proper  sanitation 
make  it  one  of  the  most  undesirable  on  earth. 

Metchnikoff  in  his  book,  'The  Nature  of 
Man,"  endeavors  to  solve  the  problem  of  old 
age  by  calling  our  attention  to  the  phago- 
cytes which  exist  from  birth  to  death  in  the 
human  body  in  uncountable  numbers,  and 
whose  function  in  the  "house  fashioned  for 
man"  make  them  "the  scavengers  of  the 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  23 

human  system."  In  normal  health  these 
phagocytes  kill  all  the  invading  disease 
germs  and  devour  them.  A  part  of  their 
function  also  is  to  rebuild  impaired  tissues 
and  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  disease  germs 
into  the  blood  stream.  When  by  correct 
breathing  and  dieting  we  keep  the  blood  nor- 
mal in  its  quality  and  activity,  wt  give  the 
phagocytes  less  to  do,  and  can  thus  utilize 
their  energy  in  the  cellular  nutrition  of  the 
body  and  give  ourselves  no  anxiety  about 
the  advancing  years. 

In  the  upbuilding  of  the  human  body  man 
has  more  hidden  forces  to  contend  with  than 
mere  bacteria.  He  has  v^ithin  himself  elec- 
tro-chemic  processes  in  constant  activity 
which  are  stupendous  in  their  complexity. 

Brunton  says,  in  his  "Lectures  on  the 
Action  of  Medicines,"  "the  saliva  in  some 
stages  of  disease  in  man  is  as  poisonous  as 
the  venom  of  a  serpent,  and  the  juices  of 
various  human  glands,  when  injected  di- 
rectly into  the  blood,  will  kill  an  animal  as 
quickly  as  a  rifle  bullet." 

In  "Man  and  His  Poisons,"  Dr.  Abrams 
says,  "The  human  body  is  a  laboratory  of 
deadly   poisons — hydrochloric   acid    in   the 


24  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

stomach,  potassium  sulpho-cyanide  in  the 
saHva,  and  phosphorus  in  the  blood  and 
bones."  And  yet  in  normal  health  all  these 
are  rendered  innocuous  by  physiologic  meta- 
bolism— in  other  words,  electro-chemic  en- 
ergy. ^  ^ 

It  is  only  in  cases  of  debilitated  or  im- 
paired nutrition  that  infection  from  any 
source  is  possible. 

There  are  only  three  sources  of  life — food, 
water  and  fresh  air,  and  the  nearer  the  con- 
sumptive gets  to  the  magnetized  bosom  of 
mother  earth,  lives  the  simple  life,  eats 
simple  food,  throws  alcohol  and  physic  to  th6 
dogs,  and  inbreathes  the  sun-electrified  atmos- 
phere until  his  whole  being  rhythms  and  pul- 
sates with  oxygen,  laden  with  life  principles 
(generated  every  moment  of  time  through 
solar  and  terrestrial  affinity),  the  better 
chance  he  has  for  a  complete  recovery.  The 
germ  of  tuberculosis  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons. No  disease  is  more  fatal.  It  causes 
more  deaths  annually  than  any  known  dis- 
ease. The  tubercle  bacilli — ten  thousand 
of  which  can  crowd  into  one  inch  of  space — 
take  nearly  a  year  to  fully  develop  in  the 
human  body,   but   five  hours'   exposure  to 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  25 

strong  light  will  kill  them.  The  disease  is 
infections  and  a  source  of  great  public  dan- 
ger, especially  in  overcrowded  districts.  All 
who  are  interested  in  its  cause  and  preven- 
tion should  have  the  earnest  support  of  the 
public.  Parents  should  never  neglect  the 
tendency  of  children  to  catch  cold  easily. 

Prevention  is  better  than  cure,  and  the  nat- 
ural guardians  of  children  should  especially 
teach  them  the  value  of  deep  breathing  and 
personal  hygiene.  In  children  predisposed 
to  lung  trouble,  ordinary  colds  sometimes 
run  into  tuberculosis.  Signs  of  early  stages 
are  fever,  increasing  debility,  loss  of  weight, 
flushed  cheeks,  unusually  bright  eyes,  cough 
and  poor  appetite.  It  is  an  encouraging  sign 
of  progress  that  the  masses  are  beginning 
to  be  willing  to  be  educated  in  the  matter 
of  personal  hygiene  and  prevention  of  dis- 
ease. In  former  days  disease  w^as  tolerated 
and  looked  upon  as  a  special  dispensation  of 
providence. 

One  of  the  best  aids  for  the  prevention  of 
this  loathsome  disease  is  the  spread  of 
knowledge  among  the  masses.  They  must 
be  taught  how  to  take  a  hand  in  ''first  aid," 
and  be  educated  in  the  simple  laws  of  health. 


26  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

Up  to  date  there  is  no  known  drug  that  will 
cure  tuberculosis.  Expert  knowledge  has 
too  long  been  obscured  in  technicalities.  The 
time  is  already  here  when  medical  mien  have 
laid  aside  some  of  the  old-time  prejudices. 
The  day  is  not  far  distant  when  it  will  no 
longer  be  a  part  of  medical  ethics  to  write  a 
prescription  for  a  simple  pill  in  a  classic 
language. 

Medical  men  of  the  twentieth  century  are 
gaining  more  social  and  scientific  recognition 
than  at  any  period  of  the  world's  history,  and 
apart  from  their  indefatigable  research 
along  the  lines  of  cause  and  cure  of  tuber-* 
culosis,  are  nobly  taking  their  share  in  edu- 
cating the  masses  for  its  prevention. 

How  necessary,  then,  to  have  our  children 
taught  something  of  the  marvelous  phenom- 
ena, of  momentary  occurrence,  in  their  own 
bodies;  of  the  origin  of  the  two  sources  of 
physical  life,  and  how  correct  and  natural 
breathing  controls  them  both,  and  that  nor- 
mal health  is  a  matter  of  self-building. 

Let  us,  too,  teach  the  rising  generation  of 
human  toilers  that  if  they  must  crowd  into 
big  cities  to  fill  the  demands  of  corporations 
for  labor,  to  exact  a  rightful  claim  to  decent 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  27 

housing,  even  in  tenements,  to  insist  on  pure 
water  for  drinking  and  a  goodly  supply  for 
bathing  purposes,  hygienic  environment  and 
less  adulteration  in  food,  better  ventilation 
in  the  workshops,  shorter  hours  for  women 
and  children,  more  open  spaces  for  children's 
playgrounds,  and,  above  all,  to  claim  that 
the  health  departments  of  cities  prevent 
the  awful  menace  to  health  by  pollution  of 
the  atmosphere,  caused  by  dust,  filthy  streets, 
noxious  gases  and  the  use  of  bituminous  fuel. 
Ways  and  means  for  full  combustion  of  fuel 
are  cheap,  and  railroad  authorities,  manu- 
facturers and  others  should  be  compelled  by 
law  to  do  their  share  in  cleaning  up  the 
atmosphere  of  the  city  that  the  lungs  of  the 
poor  may  have  fair  play. 


LESSON    5 

THE  CELLULAR  PROCESS  OF  BODY 
BUILDING,  AND  HOW  IT  IS  GOV- 
ERNED BY  OUR  HABITS 
OF  LIVING 

"Nature  has  done  her  best;  do  thou  thine." — Milton. 

Modern  science  has  conclusively  proved 
that  all  forces  are  correlated,  and  that  the 
creative  and  destructive  forces  are  equally 
active  in  the  human  system. 

There  is  no  longer  any  scientific  doubt 
about  the  cellular  reconstruction  of  the  hu- 
man body.  The  microscope  proves  that  the 
human  body  is  composed  of  myriads  of 
smaller  bodies,  or  cells,  uncountable  num- 
bers of  which  are  in  constant  activity,  either 
breaking  down  or  reconstructing,  each  class 
of  cells  having  functions  all  its  own,  not  all 
of  which  are,  even  in  this  twentieth  century, 
fully  understood.  But  there  is  no  longer  any 
doubt  that  the  life  of  each  cell  is  very  short, 
and  that  human  life  depends  on  the  constant 
reconstruction  of  healthy  cells. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  29 

Our  habits  of  living  naturally  affect  this 
process.  Self-control  and  well-directed  en- 
ergy exercise  a  powerful  though  silent  in- 
fluence over  the  cellular  process  of  body 
building. 

The  English  poet,  Tennyson,  in  his  poem 
called  'The  Leper,"  gives  a  very  gloomy 
view  of  the  human  body.  He  speaks  of  it 
as  "the  rib-grated  dungeon  of  the  soul,"  as 
"a  little  city  of  sewers,  with  all  its  wants 
and  needs,  no  greater  than  the  beast,"  and 
bewails  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to. 

Another  English  poet,  in  happier  mood, 
writes : 

''Not  mean,  nor  base,  but  of  God's  best 
upbuilding,  is  this  house  fashioned  for  man 
— the  city  of  nine  gates,  wonderful,  subtle, 
sacred." 

We  should  never  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that 
it  is  possible  to  have  a  healthy  body  and  to 
cultivate  a  happy,  sunny  temperament. 

Except  in  cases  of  hereditary  disease,  we 
are  undoubtedly  largely  responsible  for  the 
health  or  disease  of  our  bodies. 

When  we  permit  the  grosser  instincts  and 
appetites  of  the  flesh  to  gain  the  ascendency, 
body  rules  the  soul,  and  obscures  or  hinders 


30  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

its  development ;  for  how  can  the  soul  attain 
its  heights  if  its  earthly  limit  is  dwarfed  by 
impure  desire  and  uncontrolled  appetites, 
which,  alas,  are  too  often  the  real  cause  of 
pain  and  disease. 

It  rests  with  us  to  keep  the  river  of  life 
properly  supplied  with  life  principles,  through 
atmospheric  contact  and  proper  food,  and  to 
see  that  its  channels  and  byways  are  kept 
free  from  accumulating  debris. 

The  all-wise  Creator  designed  for  our 
bodies  a  more  marvelously  perfect  system  of 
irrigation,  drainage  and  sewerage  than  mor- 
tal mind  has  ever  dreamed  of,  and  by  which 
it  was  intended  the  natural  waste  products 
of  the  body  should  be  carried  off,  but  which, 
through  ignorance,  and  sometimes  wilful 
neglect,  are  allowed  to  accumulate  in  the 
system  and  become  a  fertile  source  of  dis- 
ease. 

In  nearly  every  instance  the  impaired 
function  of  the  stomach  is  the  starting  point 
for  disease  of  the  whole  system,  because 
every  cell,  nerve,  fiber  and  tissue  of  the  body 
depends  for  its  nutrition  upon  the  quality 
of  the  material  absorbed  from  the  blood. 

Overwork,  a  deficient  supply  of  food,  and 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  31 

lack  of  sufficient  outdoor  life  delays  and  im- 
pairs the  processes  of  nutrition  seriously. 

In  normal  health  our  blood  is  always  prop- 
agating myriads  of  living  warriors  called 
phagocytes,  who  combine  the  triple  duties 
of  war  on  invading  germs,  building  and  re- 
pairing tissue,  and  helping  to  dispose  of  the 
debris  in  the  blood  stream. 

RECONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  BODY 

It  used  to  be  dimly  conceded  that  the 
human  body  changed,  or  was  made  over, 
about  once  in  seven  years ;  we  know  now  that 
it  is  changing  every  moment  of  time  until 
our  last  breath  ends  the  process  of  momen- 
tary building  up  or  breaking  down.  All  of 
Nature's  forces  are  correlated.  And  the  cre- 
ative and  destructive  forces  (in  normal 
health)  are  equally  active  in  the  human 
system. 

Professor  Metchnikoff  (of  Pasteur  Insti- 
tute, Paris)  may  be  considered  as  among  the 
most  distinguished  living  authorities  on  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  microbes.  His  recent 
microscopic  discoveries  prove  that  the  blood 
stream  of  the  living  body  swarm  with  un- 
countable numbers  of  red  and  white  cor- 


32  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

puscles.  The  red  predominate  in  number, 
and  their  function  is  said  to  be  to  convey 
oxygen  from  the  lungs  to  the  tissues  (it  is 
more  than  Hkely  they  have  a  double  function, 
but  that  remains  to  be  proved).  The  v^hite 
corpuscles  vary  in  shape  and  independence  of 
movement.  They  are  constantly  pervading 
all  the  tissues  of  the  body,  apparently  search- 
ing for  germs  of  disease,  which  it  is  their 
special  function  to  destroy  and  devour.  Pro- 
fessor Metchnikoff  believes  it  is  possible  to 
develop  in  the  human  system  harmless  and 
beneficial  microbes  that  would  arrest  pre- 
cocious senility.  He  believes  they  can  be 
found  in  buttermilk  and  sour  milk,  the  use 
of  which  he  says  would  be  a  useful  ad- 
junct in  a  simple  dietary.  He  also  advocates 
abstinence  from  alcohol,  animal  food  and 
uncooked  fruit  for  those  no  longer  young. 
Modern  science  is  advancing  the  theory  that 
superfluous  food  in  the  system  is  the  cause 
of  arterial  degeneration,  and  it  is  believed 
that  further  investigations  along  the  lines 
of  bacteriological  research  will  discover  the 
germ  of  old  age  and  means  for  its  destruc- 
tion. 

//  disease  and  old  age  are  caused  by  in- 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  33 

activity  of  the  blood  stream  and  lack  of  oxy- 
gen, it  is  a  rational  supposition  that  disease 
can  be  prevented  and  old  age  postponed  by 
a  sufficient  supply  of  oxygen  to  keep  all  the 
lung  cells  in  constant  use. 

The  rhythmic  law  of  expansion  and  con- 
traction is  far  reaching.  It  not  only  controls 
the  equipoise  of  the  universe,  but  rhythm  in 
breathing  regulates  the  blood  stream  and  all 
the  organs  of  secretion  and  elimination  of 
the  human  body. 

The  latest  scientific  research  classes  bac- 
teria as  among  the  most  active  but  lowest 
order  of  vegetation,  chiefly  fungi. 

They  begin  existence  as  single-cell 
growths  and  multiply  by  a  process  called  fis- 
sion, which  means  that  after  a  short  period 
of  growth  a  fissure  divides  the  original  cell. 
They  are  infinitesimally  small,  live  by  ab- 
sorption, and  reproduce  themselves  at  a  very 
early  stage  in  their  history;  some  reproduce 
in  spores,  or  tiny  seed-like  granules,  none  of 
which  are  visible  to  the  naked  eye.  Some 
germs  multiply  every  thirty  minutes,  which 
means  a  propagation  of  almost  inconceivable 
rapidity.  Under  the  microscope,  bacteria 
differs  in  form.    Some  are  spiral,  some  look 


34  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

like  tiny  dots  or  pin-heads,  others  Hke  tiny 
tubes  with  round  or  pointed  ends;  germs  of 
tropical  diseases  differ  in  form  from  those 
of  cooler  climates.  Some  germs  exist  only 
in  dead  or  decaying  vegetable  matter ;  others 
exist  only  in  the  tissues,  lymphatics  and 
blood  stream  of  the  human  being. 

Like  all  seed  life,  they  can  only  exist  in 
suitable  soil  and  environment.  The  prac- 
tical prevention  of  disease  lies  not  so  much 
in  fighting  bacteria  as  in  controlling  and 
fortifying  the  process  of  body  building 
against  its  invasion. 

When  the  circulation  of  the  blood  becomes 
sluggish,  there  is  too  little  activity  of  the 
capillary  system,  which  is  closely  connected 
with  the  circulation  of  the  whole  body. 

Also,  not  far  beneath  the  skin,  the  body  is 
covered  with  a  wondrous  network  of  minut- 
est tubings,  ending  in  myriads  of  pores, 
through  which,  in  the  form  of  perspiration, 
a  large  amount  of  waste  material  should  be 
daily  thrown  off  from  the  system. 

Sudden  closing  or  congestion  of  these 
pores  of  the  skin  is  the  cause  of  colds,  and 
many  of  the  ills  which  flesh  is  heir  to ;  hence 
the  imperative  necessity  for  keeping  the  nat- 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  35 

ural  drainage  of  the  body  in  unimpaired  con- 
dition. 

Scientific  investigation  proves  that  only 
one  or  two  per  cent,  of  people  in  the 
Occident  use  their  full  lung  capacity. 
Only  very  strong  people  breathe  deeply, 
or  compel  the  constant  rhythmic  de- 
scent of  the  diaphragm  with  every  breath. 
In  India  the  elephant  is  everywhere  recog- 
nized as  the  symbol  of  power,  and  he  is  the 
slowest-breathing  animal  on  earth,  taking 
only  about  five  or  six  respirations  a  minute; 
and  as  the  blood  depends  upon  the  breath 
for  the  most  important  of  its  vital  principles, 
and  the  act  of  breathing  makes  us  one  with 
pure  atmosphere,  or  the  reeking  poison  of  ill- 
ventilated  rooms,  it  rests  with  ourselves  to 
govern  the  quality  and  quantity  of  the  air 
we  breathe,  as  well  as  the  appropriation  to 
ourselves  of  a  larger  or  lesser  amount  of  its 
life-giving  principles.  By  correct  breathing 
we  govern  every  function  of  the  body,  in- 
creasing their  activity,  and  controlling  their 
processes;  respiratory  exercises  are  abso- 
lutely necessary  in  preventing  disease  and 
to  help  the  lungs  exhale  and  eliminate 
poisons  constantly  generating  through  elec- 
trp-chemic  action  in  the  system, 


36  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

It  is  more  practical  and  rational  to  rec- 
ognize a  diseased  condition,  and  help  it,  than 
it  is  merely  to  think  we  can  get  well  by  deny- 
ing its  existence. 

From  the  earliest  ages,  people  of  the  far 
East  have  understood  the  great  electrical 
energy  bound  up. in  the  sun,  its  influence  on 
the  atmosphere  of  our  world  and  health  of 
the  human  race. 

In  manuscripts  scratched  with  thorns  upon 
green  palm  leaves  thousands  of  years  ago 
the  sun  is  given  a  thousand  names  of  ado- 
ration. He  is  described  as  a  chariot  of  fire, 
with  three  wheels,  one  hot,  one  light,  and  one 
electrical,  and  as  being  driven  with  seven 
horses,  each  of  a  different  color,  symbolic  of 
the  solar  spectrum.  They  consider  our  earth 
its  negative  pole,  and  teach  that  nearly  every 
known  substance  of  the  earth  is  found  float- 
ing in  the  atmosphere  in  a  rarefied  form,  at- 
tracted thither  by  solar  energy  and  held  there 
in  chemical  affinity  with  other  life-giving 
elements.  And,  because  they  have  such  a 
profound  understanding  of  these  laws,  the 
Hindus  believe  that  breath  is  life,  which  is 
why  they  attach  such  importance  to  the  nor- 
mal rhythm  of  breathing. 


LESSON   6 
"SIMPLIFIED"  DIETETICS 

"Wherefore    did    Nature    pour    her    bounties    forth 
With  such  a  full  and  unwithdrawing  hand, 
Covering  the  earth  with  odors,  fruits,  and  flocks, 
Thronging  the  seas  with  spawn  innumerable, 
But  all  to  please  and  sate  the  curious  taste?"  .  .  . 

— Milton's  "Comus." 

Sir  Henry  Thompson  has  said  ^'almost 
all  diet  reformers  have  been  extreme  in 
their  views,  and  most  of  them  have  died 
early." 

In  selecting  our  diet  it  is  well  to  remem- 
ber that  of  the  fourteen  elements  that 
constitute  the  human  body,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  find  them  in  very  simple  foods — for  ex- 
ample, a  grain  of  wheat  contains  every  one 
of  them. 

Diet  should  be  studied  in  order  that  we 
may  combine  in  suitable  selection  to  indi- 
vidual needs,  the  phosphates  which  are 
needed  in  the  blood,  as  nutrient  to  brain, 
bones  and  nerves,  the  nitrates  for  muscle 
building,  and  carbonates  for  necessary  heat. 

Food  stuffs  have  all  come  to  be  classed 


3S  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

under  three  headings:  Proteids,  carbo- 
hydrates and  fats. 

Professor  Russell  H.  Chittenden,  director 
of  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale 
University,  Department  of  Physiological 
Chemistry,  has  recently  given  to  the  public 
the  result  of  the  many  important  dietary  ex- 
periments he  has  been  engaged  upon  for  the 
last  six  years.  As  the  result  of  scientific  in- 
vestigation he  has  become  convinced  that 
the  average  person  eats  far  too  much  meat 
and  that  we  all  eat  too  rapidly.  He  does 
not  believe  in  vegetarianism  or  Fletcherism, 
but  advocates  variety  in  diet,  a  diet  based 
on  the  body's  real  needs. 

Professor  Chittenden  says:  "The  facts 
bearing  on  food  requirements,  especially 
those  that  relate  to  the  need  for  proteid  food, 
are  seemingly  harmonious  in  indicating  that 
the  physiological  necessities  of  the  body  are 
fully  met  by  a  much  more  temperate  use  of 
food  than  is  commonly  practiced. 

''Dietary  standards  based  on  the  habits 
and  usages  of  prosperous  communities  are 
not  in  accord  with  the  data  furnished  by 
exact  physiological  experimentation.  Nitrog- 
enous   equilibrium    can    be   maintained   on 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  39 

quantities  of  proteid  food  fully  fifty  per  cent, 
less  than  the  every-day  habits  of  mankind 
imply  to  be  necessary,  and  this  without  in- 
creasing unduly  the  consumption  of  non- 
nitrogenous  food/' 

The  experiments  at  Yale  by  Professor 
Irving  Fisher,  by  which  he  showed  that  the 
meat  eaters  employed  in  those  experiments 
had  less  endurance  than  vegetarians,  have 
been  widely  accepted  as  arguments  in  favor 
of  vegetarianism,  but  the  most  significant 
experiments  were  those  in  which  the  won- 
derful increase  of  endurance  which  followed 
all  cases  where  thorough  mastication  of  food 
was  practiced.  Professor  Fisher  does  not  ad- 
vocate vegetarianism.  He  says  on  this  point, 
that  meat  is  sometimes  essential,  and  experi- 
ments indicate  that  complete  vegetarianism 
is  entirely  successful  in  some  cases  and  quite 
disastrous  in  others.  Vegetarianism  is  an 
exclusive  vegetable  diet,  and  arguments  in 
its  favor  are  mainly  ethical  or  sentimental. 
What  is  really  needed  is  a  varied  mixed  diet. 

The  main  thing  to  avoid  in  selecting  one's 
nutrition  is  the  habit  of  eating  large  quanti- 
ties of  proteid  or  tissue-building  food.  While 
the   proteids    are    almost    indispensable    in 


40  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

body  building,  it  is  possible  that  after  the 
average  growth  has  been  attained  proteids 
are  not  completely  utilized  by  the  body  and 
increase  the  waste  matter  in  the  system,  giv- 
ing the  liver  and  kidneys  much  extra  work, 
thus  rendering  the  body  less  able  to  resist 
disease. 

Professor  Chittenden  says:  *'The  appear- 
ance, odor  and  palatability  of  food  are  fac- 
tors of  prime  importance  in  its  utilization  by 
the  body,  and  that  the  aesthetics  of  eating  are 
not  to  be  ignored,  since  they  have  an  impor- 
tant influence  upon  the  flow  of  the  digestive 
secretions.  A  peaceful  mind,  pleasurable 
anticipation,  freedom  from  care  and  anxiety, 
cheerful  companionship,  all  form  desirable 
table  accessories,  which  play  the  part  of  true 
psychical  or  mental  stimuli  in  accelerating 
the  flow  of  the  digestive  juices.  Thorough 
mastication  prolongs  mechanical  stimulation 
of  the  salivary  glands  and  thus  increases  the 
flow  of  the  secretion." 

As  a  digestive  secretion,  saliva  serves  sev- 
eral important  purposes.  By  moistening  the 
food  it  renders  mastication  and  swallowing 
easy.  Its  natural  alkalinity  tends  to  neutral- 
ize such  acidity  as  may  be  present  in  the  food. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  41 

It  dissolves  various  solid  substances,  thus 
making  a  solution  capable  of  stimulating  the 
taste  nerves.  Last  and  most  important,  it 
has  a  marked  digestive  and  solvent  action  on 
starchy  foods.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
food,  other  than  meat,  eggs,  etc.,  consumed 
by  the  average  person  is  composed  of  some 
form  of  starch,  and  this  the  body  cannot 
make  use  of  until  it  has  undergone  con- 
version into  soluble  forms,  such  as  dextrins 
and  sugars.  This  it  is  the  function  of  saliva 
to  accomplish. 

Horace  Fletcher's  dietetic  rule  reads,  ''Do 
not  eat  w^hen  you  are  mad  or  sad,  only  when 
you  are  glad." 

Horace  Fletcher  was  the  first  practical 
demonstrator  of  the  science  of  simple  living 
which  now  bears  his  name.  He,  too,  experi- 
mented at  Yale  University  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Professor  Russell  H.  Chittenden. 
Three  groups  of  men — a  company  of  regular 
United  States  soldiers,  a  number  of  profes- 
sors and  some  athletes  in  training — lived  on 
a  simple  restrictive  diet  for  six  months. 
They  were  all  stronger  at  the  end  of  the  ex- 
periment than  they  were  at  the  beginning, 
and  their  working  efficiency  was  increased 


42  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

from  fifty  to  two  hundred  per  cent.  The 
most  important  development  of  Fletcherism 
of  recent  date  has  been  the  report  of  Dr.  Hu- 
bert Higgins,  of  May  20  and  27,  1905,  in  the 
London  Lancet,  on  the  chewing  and  swallow- 
ing apparatus  in  man,  which  corroborates  a 
most  important  anatomical  discovery  made 
by  Mr.  Fletcher  some  years  ago  of  what  he 
termed  a  food  filter  in  man,  situated  at  the 
back  of  the  mouth.  Later  investigation 
of  this  method  by  professors  of  universities 
abroad  and  at  home  by  the  aid  of  recording 
appliances  proves  that  there  is  a  discrim- 
inating or  filtering  mechanism  at  the  back  of 
the  mouth,  which  works  perfectly  in  its  selec- 
tion of  food  suited  for  digestion  and  assim- 
ilation when  conditions  are  normal.  The 
writer  begs  leave  to  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  fresh  and  constantly  changing  air,  laden 
with  its  life-giznng  oxygen,  is  not  ordinarily 
classed  with  food,  but  without  it  there  can  be 
no  perfect  electro-chemic  assimilation  of 
food  structures  in  the  blood. 

Professor  Dr.  Lloyd  M.  Campbell,  New 
York  County  Medical  Society,  says:  'The 
character  of  a  person's  food  should  vary  with 
age,   climate,   season,   occupation  and  tem- 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  43 

perament.  No  one  system  of  diet  or  class 
of  food  is  adapted  for  all.  Food  as  a  builder 
of  brain  and  nerve  tissue  wields  a  direct  in- 
fluence on  character,  the  failure  to  prop- 
erly nourish  the  brain  or  reinforce  the  nerve 
centers  resulting  very  often  in  the  complete 
change  of  a  man's  personality." 

A,  E.  Baines,  an  English  authority  on  food 
reform,  has  demonstrated  by  means  of  a  gal- 
vanometer of  remarkable  sensitiveness,  that 
all  fruits,  nuts  and  vegetables  are,  while 
alive,  storage  batteries  of  electricity.  When 
they  die  or  are  killed  by  cooking,  the  insula- 
tion between  the  negative  and  the  positive 
systems  is  destroyed.  In  an  orange,  Mr. 
Baines  asserts,  each  alternate  section  is  a 
charged  cell,  which  will  cause  the  galvano- 
meter to  record  a  current. 

Dr.  Alexander  Haig,  of  London,  has 
shown  that  uric  acid,  which  abounds  in  flesh 
foods,  can  also  be  found  to  a  limited  extent 
in  the  hulls  of  beans  and  grain  and  to  a 
larger  extent  in  tea,  coffee  and  cocoa. 

It  should  be  remembered,  then,  that  uric 
acid,  like  other  toxic  products,  may  be 
formed  in  the  system  even  if  no  meat  is 
eaten.     Some  people  condemn  the  use  of 


44  RJiythmic  Breathing  plus 

meat  altogether,  and  claim  that  flesh  is  not 
fit  to  eat  under  any  circumstances.  Against 
that  many  dieticians  will  agree,  especially  in 
cases  of  convalescence,  that  liquid  meat 
broths  or  beef  tea  can  be  assimilated  when 
the  stomach  cannot  retain  ordinary  food. 
All  dietetics  are  subject  to  exceptions  and 
qualifications  according  to  circumstances. 
As  a  rule,  acids  are  the  most  frequent  cause 
of  disturbed  digestion  of  any  class  of  dietetic 
agents. 

A  white  coated  tongue  is  always  the  first 
sign  of  an  acid  stomach.  When  persistent, 
acid-producing  elements,  such  as  fruit  acids, 
should  be  eliminated  from  the  diet,  and  fruit 
should  only  be  eaten  in  its  cooked  form. 

The  question  of  diet  is  one  that  is  attract- 
ing a  great  deal  of  public  attention.  On  all 
sides  the  claim  is  made  by  modern  writers 
that  people  eat  too  much.  That  depends,  of 
course,  on  what  class  of  people  the  writers 
have  in  mind. 

One-half  the  world  may  be  suffering  from 
disturbed  digestion  due  to  over-eating  and 
indulgence  of  the  appetites.  The  chances 
are,  however,  that  the  other  half  rarely  get 
enough  to  eat,  especially  of  properly  selected 
foods. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  45 

Mental  and  moral  degeneracy  exists  to  an 
alarming  extent  in  industrial  centers  where 
child-labor  is  tolerated,  as  a  direct  residt  of 
poverty  and  insufficient  food.  Recent  avail- 
able data,  tend  to  prove  that  not  less  than 
two  million  of  children  of  school  age  in  the 
United  States  alone  are  victims  of  poverty, 
which  deny  them  the  common  necessities  of 
life.  Such  statistics  give  us  food  for  thought. 
In  the  human  body  nutrition  serves  two  dis- 
tinct purposes,  which  are  always  in  constant 
affinity — the  constant  reconstruction  of  cel- 
lular tissue  and  the  renewal  of  vital  energy. 
The  three  great  reservoirs  from  which  the 
human  being  draws  for  its  existence  are  air, 
food  and  water.  Of  these,  air — because  of 
its  electrical  principles — is  by  far  the  most 
important.  The  better  we  breathe,  the  more 
we  get  of  its  vital  energy  for  utilizing  in  our 
blood  the  chemical  changes  of  our  food  prod- 
ucts. Proper  nutrition  is  not  wholly  pos- 
sible, even  with  choicest  selection  of  food, 
unless  sufficient  oxygen  is  inspired. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  no  matter 
what  our  weight  may  be,  its  bulk  is  always 
(in  normal  health)  two-thirds  water.  There- 
fore, aside  from  water  contained  in  all  food 


46  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

stuff,  we  should  drink  water  freely.  Always 
boil  and  cool  water  if  there  is  any  question 
as  to  its  purity.  The  Oriental  never  tastes 
raw  water,  which  is  why  even  in  this  country 
John  Chinaman  always  keeps  up  a  goodly 
supply  of  weak  tea.  Water  is  both  a  solvent 
and  the  distributer  and  regulator  of  the  heat 
of  the  body. 

"There  is  no  agent,''  writes  Dr.  James 
Wilson,  "applied  to  the  human  body,  exter- 
nally or  internally,  that  has  such  influence  in 
awakening  all  the  vital  powers  to  their  great 
restorative  capabilities,  in  arresting  the  prog- 
ress of  disease  or  preventing  a  fatal  termi- 
nation as  pure  water.  Administered  at  vari- 
ous temperatures,  it  is  the  most  powerful 
remedy  we  possess  as  a  stimulant,  a  sedative, 
a  diuretic,  a  sudorific.  When  we  turn  to  the 
physiological  construction,  either  of  man  or  of 
the  lower  animal,  we  discover  nothing  that  can 
lead  us  to  conceive  the  necessity  for  any  other 
fluid  than  that  which  nature  has  provided." 

The  simplicity  of  the  diet  of  the  Orientals 
is  the  basis  of  their  physical  endurance  and 
unusual  recuperative  power.  The  writer  has 
in  mind  two  Chinese  laboring  men,  who  were 
in  a  hospital  in  this  country  under  treatment, 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  47 

one  for  fractured  skull  and  the  other  a 
double  fracture  of  the  leg.  Neither  of  them 
were  young  or  over-nourished,  but  each  made 
a  rapid  and  perfect  recovery  on  a  most  simple 
diet.  For  the  first  week  nothing  was  given 
them  but  rice  water  of  varying  thickness. 
Later  boiled  rice  and  a  little  gravy  and 
cooked  fruits.  Very  weak  tea,  hot  or  cold, 
fruit  juices  and  boiled  water  were  the  only 
beverages. 

Pythagoras  lived  and  taught  the  simple 
life  and  diet  six  hundred  years  before  Christ. 
In  all  topics  of  vital  interest  history  repeats 
itself  in  cycles.  600  B.  C.  Pythagoras  was 
known  in  his  day  not  only  as  a  great  natural- 
ist and  philosopher,  but  as  the  greatest  au- 
thority on  the  subject  of  health  through  diet 
and  exercise  and  control  of  breath.  He  es- 
tablished a  system  of  simple  dietetics  and 
taught  prevention  rather  than  cure  of  dis- 
ease. He  advocated  a  general  use  of  milk, 
honey,  grains,  fruits,  roots,  vegetables,  etc., 
and  especially  a  liberal  use  of  pure  water. 

The  following  table  prepared  by  the  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  gives  average  composition  of 
common  American  food  products: 


48 


Rhytlimic  Breathing  plus 


Table  prepared  by  U.  S.  Government.  Dppt.  of  Agriculture,  Wash,  D.  C. 

TABLE   I 
Average    Composition    of    Common    American    Food   Products 


Food  Materials 
(as  purchased) 


Ref- 
use 


Water 


animal    food 
Beef,  fresh: 

Chuck    ribs 

Flank    

Loin     

Porterhouse   Steak 

Sirloin     Steak 

Neck    

Ribs   

Rib    rolls    

Round   

Rump    

Shank,    fore 

Shoulder  and  clod 

Fore    quarter 

Hind    quarter 

Beef,  corned,  canned,  pickled 
and  dried: 

Corned    beef 

Tongue,    pickled 

Dried,   salted  and  smoked. 

Canned  boiled  beef 

Canned  corned  beef 

Veal: 

Breast   

Leg    

Leg    cutlets 

Fore   quarter 

Hind    quarter 

Mutton: 

Flank     

Leg,    hind 

Loin    chops 

Fore   quarter 

Hind  quar.,  without  tallow. 
Lamb: 

Breast    

Leg,     hind 

Pork,   fresh: 

Ham     

Loin    chops 

Shoulder     

Tenderloin    

Pork,  salted,  cured,  pickled: 

Ham,    smoked 

Shoulder,    smoked 

Salt    pork 

Bacon,    smoked 

Sausage: 

Bologna    

Pork     

Frankfort    

Soups: 

Celery,   cream   of 

Beef    


Per 

cent, 

16.3 
10.'.' 
13.3 
12.7 
12.8 
27.6 
20.8 


7.2 

20.7 
36.9 
16.4 
18.7 
15.7 


8.4 
6.0 
4.7 


21.3 
14.2 
3.4 
24.5 
20.7 

9.9 

18.4 
16.0 
21.2 
17.8 

19.1 
17.4 

10.7 
19.7 
12.4 


13.6 
18.2 


7.7 
3.3 


Per 
cent. 

52.6 
54.0 
52.5 
52.4 
54.0 
45.9 
43.8 
63.9 
60.7 
45.0 
42.9 
56.8 
49.1 
50.4 


49.2 
58.9 
53.7 
51.8 
51.8 

52.0 
60.1 
6S.3 
54.2 
56.2 

39.0 
51.2 
42.0 
41.6 
45.4 

45.5 
52.9 

48.0 
41.8 
44  9 
66.5 

34.8 

36.8 

7.9 

17.4 

55.2 
39  8 
57.2 

88.6 
92.9 


Pro- 
tein 


Per 
cent. 

15.5 
17.(1 
16.1 
19.1 
16.5 
14.5 
13.9 
19.3 
19.0 
13.8 
12.8 
16.4 
14.5 
15.4 


14.3 
11.9 
26.4 
25.5 
26.3 

15.4 
15.5 
20.1 
15  1 
16.2 

13.8 
15.1 
13.5 
12.3 
13.8 

15.4 
15.9 

13.5 
13.4 
12.0 
18.9 

14.2 

13  0 

1.9 

9  1 

18.2 
13.0 
19.6 

2.1 

4  4 


Fat 


Per 
cent. 

15.0 
19.0 
17.5 
17.9 
16.1 
11.9 
21.2 
16.7 
12.8 
20.2 
7.3 
9  8 
17.5 
18.3 


23.8 
19.2 
6.9 
22  5 
18.7 

11.0 
7.9 
7.5 
6.0 
6.6 

36.9 
14.7 
28.3 
24.5 
23.2 

19.1 
13.6 

25.9 
24.2 
29.8 
13.0 

as. 4 

26.6 
86.2 
62.2 

19.7 
44.2 
18.6 

2.8 
.4 


<j2 


Ash 


Per 
cent. 


1.1 
1.1 

5.1 
1.1 


0.8 


4.6 
4.3 
8.9 
1.3 
4.0 

.8 

.9 

1.0 

.7 


.9 

.8 

.8 

.7 

1.0 


Fuel 
Value 

per 
Pound 


Per      Calo- 
cerit.      ries 


1.5 
1.2 


910 

1.105 

1,025 

1,100 

975 

1,165 

1,135 

1.055 

890 

1,090 

545 

715 

995 

1,045 


1,245 
1,010 
■  790 
1,410 
1,270 

745 
625 
695 
535 
580 

1,770 
890 
1,415 
1,2.35 
1,210 

1,075 
860 

1,320 

1,345 

1,450 

895 

1,6?5 
1,335 
3,555 
2,715 

1,155 
2,075 
1,155 

235 
120 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence 

TABLE  I — Continued 


49 


Food  Materials 
(as  purchased) 


Ref- 
use 


Water 


Pro- 
teiu 


Fat 


Oj= 


Ash 


Fuel 
Value 

per 
Pound 


ANIMAL  FOOD — Continued 

Soups: 

Meat   stew 

Tomato    

Poultry: 

Chicken,    broilers 

Fowls     

Goose     

Turkey    

Fish: 

Cod.   dressed 

Halibut,  steaks  or  sections. 

Mackerel,    whole 

Perch,   yellow,   dressed.... 

Shad,   whole 

Shad,    roe 

Fish,  preserved: 

Cod,   salt 

Herring,   smoked 

Fish,  canned: 

Salmon    


Sardines    

Shellfish: 

Oysters,    "solids" 

Clams    

Crabs    

Lobsters    

Eggs :    Hen's   eggs 

Dairy  products,  etc. : 

Butter 

Whole   milk 

Skim    milk 

Buttermilk     

Condensed   milk 

Cream   

Cheese,    cheddar 

Cheese,    full   cream 

VEGETABLE    FOOD 

Flour,  meal,  etc. : 

Entire-wheat   flour 

Graham   flour 

Wheat  flour,  patent  roller 
process — 

High-grade  and  medium.  .. 

Low-grade   

Macaroni,  vermicelli,   etc.  . 

Wheat  breakfast  food 

Buckwheat    flour 

Rye   flour 

Corn   meal 

Oat   breakfast   food 

Rice     

Tapioca   

Starch    

Bread,    pastry,   etc. : 

White    bread 


Per 
cent. 


41.6 
25.9 
17.6 
22.7 

29.9 
17.7 
44.7 
35.1 
50.1 


24.9 
44.4 


*5.0 


52.4 

61.7 

+11.2 


Per 
cent. 

84.5 
90.0 

4.3.7 
47.1 
38.5 
42.4 

58.5 
61.9 
40.4 
50.7 
35.2 
71.2 

40.2 
19.2 

68.5 
53.6 

88.3 
80.8 
.36.7 
30.7 
65.5 

11  0 
87.0 
90  5 
91.0 
26.9 
74.0 
27.4 
34.2 


11.4 
11.3 


12.0 
12.0 
10.3 

9.6 
13.6 
12.9 
12.5 

7.7 
12.3 
11.4 


.35.3 


Per 
cent. 

4.6 
1.8 

12.8 
13.7 
13.4 
16.1 

11.1 
15.3 
10.2 
12.8 
9.4 
20.9 

16.0 
20.5 

21.8 
23.7 

6.0 

10.6 

7.9 

5.9 

13.1 

1.0 
3.3 
3.4 
3.0 

8.8 

2».5 

27.7 

25.9 


13.8 
13.3 


11.4 

14.0 

13.4 

12.1 

6.4 

6.8 

9.2 

16.7 

8.0 

.4 


9.2 


Per 
cent. 

4.3 
1.1 

1.4 
12.3 

29.8 
18.4 

.2 
4.4 

4.2 

.7 

4.8 

3.8 


12.1 
12.1 

1.3 

1.1 

.9 

.7 
9.3 

85.0 

4.0 

.3 

.5 

8.3 

18.5 

36.8 

33.7 


1.9 
2.2 


1.0 

1.9 

.9 

1.8 

1.2 

0.9 

1.9 

7.3 

.3 

.1 


Per 
cent. 

5.5 
5.6 


2.6 


3.3 

5.2 

.6 

.2 


5.0 
5  1 
4.8 
54.1 
4.5 
4.1 
2.4 


71.9 
71.4 


75.1 
71.2 
74.1 
75.2 
77.9 
78.7 
75.4 
66.2 
79.0 
88  0 
90.0 


Per      Calo- 
cent,      ries 


1.1 
1.5 

.7 
.7 
.7 


.9 
.7 
.9 

.7 
1.5 

18.5 
7.4 

2.6 
5.3 

1.1 

2.3 

1.5 

.8 

0.9 

3.0 
.7 
.7 
.7 

1.9 
.5 

4  0 

3.8 


1.0 

1.8 


.5 

.9 

1.3 

1.3 

.9 

.7 

1.0 

2.1 

.4 

.1 


1.3     53.1  •    1.1       1,200 


365 

185 

305 

765 

1,475 

1,060 

220 

475 
370 
275 
380 
600 

325 

755 

915 
950 

225 
340 
200 
145 
635 

3,410 
810 
165 
160 

1,4.30 
865 

2.075 

1,885 


1,6.50 
1,645 


1,635 
1,640 
1,645 
1.680 
1,605 
1,620 
1,635 
1,800 
1,620 
1,6.50 
1,675 


^Refuse,  oil. 


tRefuse,  shell. 


50 


Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 


TABLE  I- 

—Continued 

Food  Materials 
(as  purchased) 

Ref- 
use 

Water 

Pro- 
tein 

Fat 

1   ** 

O   rt 

CI    >, 

Ash 

Fuel 
Value 

per 
Pound 

VEGETABLE    FOOD — Continued 
Bread,  pastry,  etc. : 

Brown   bread 

Per 
cent. 

Per 

cent. 

43.6 

35.7 

38.4 

35.7 

19.9 

6.8 

4.8 

5.9 

Per 
cent. 

5.4 

8.9 
9.7 
9.0 
6.3 
9.7 
11.3 
9.8 

Per 
cent. 

1.8 

1.8 

.9 

.6 

9.0 

12.1 

10.5 

9.1 

Per 
cent. 

47.1 
.52.1 
49.7 
53.2 
63.3 
69.7 
70.5 
73.1 

70.0 
96.0 
81.0 
100.0 
71.4 

59.6 
22.0 
6.9 
7.7 
4.8 
2.6 

19.7 
2.6 
2.5 
6.8 
8.9 

10.8 

62.0 

16.9 

60.8 

14.7 

2.2 

21.9 

3.2 

4.5 

3.9 

5.7 

19.6 

9.8 
19.0 
18.6 

4.0 

10.8 

Per 
cent. 

2.1 
1.5 
1.3 
1.5 
1.5 
1.7 
2.9 
2.1 

3.5 
1.7 
.7 
.9 
.9 
.8 

.7 
.4 
.8 

1.2 
.5 

1.1 

2.9 

1.0 

3.4 

.8 
.4 
.9 
2.1 
.4 
.5 
.6 

2.1 

1.1 
.9 
.9 
.6 

0.3 

Calo- 
ries 

1,040 
1,195 
1,130 
1,170 
1,630 
1  925 

Graham    bread 

Whole-wheat    bread 



Rye    bread 

Cake    

Cream   crackers 

Oyster    crackers 

1,910 

1,875 

1,225 
1,680 

Soda  crackers 

Sugars,  etc.  : 
Molasses   

Candy* 

Honey    

1,420 

Sugar,    granulated 

1,750 

Maple    syrup 

1,250 

Vegetables  :t 

Beans,    dried 

12.6 
68.5 
83.0 
70.0 
77.7 
75.6 

75.4 
81.1 
80.5 
88.1 
78  9 
66.4 

9.5 

74.6 
13.0 
62.6 
56.6 
55.2 
92.3 
44.2 
94.3 
62.7 

68.9 

85.3 
76.1 
75.9 
94.0 

63.3 

22.5 
7.1 
2.1 
1  3 
1.4 
.9 

3.1 
.7 
1.0 
3.5 
1.4 
1.3 

24.6 

7.0 

21.4 

1.8 

.4 

1.4 

2.1 

.7 

.9 

.9 

6.9 

3.6 
2.8 
3.6 
1.2 

0.3 

1.8 
.7 
.3 
.1 
.2 
.1 

1.1 
.2 
.2 
.4 
.3 
.4 

1.0 

0.5 
1.4 
.1 
.4 
.6 
.3 
.2 
.4 
.1 

2.5 

.2 
1.2 
1.0 

.2 

0.3 

1,520 
540 

Beans,  Lima,  shelled 

Beans,  string 

7.0 
20.0 
15.0 
20.0 

170 

Beets 

160 
115 

Cabbage    

Celery    

65 

Corn,    green    (sweet),    ed- 
ible  portion 

440 

Cucumbers    

15.0 
15.0 

65 

Lettuce    

65 

Mushrooms    

185 

Onions    

10.0 
20.0 

190 

Parsnips    

230 

Peas      (Pisum     sativum), 
dried    

1,565 

Peas      {Pisum     sativum), 
shelled    

440 

Cowpeas,  dried   

Potatoes    

*26!6' 
40.0 
20.0 

1,505 
295 

Rhubarb    

Sweet  potatoes    

60 
440 

Spinach    

95 

Squash     

50.0 

100 

Tomatoes    

100 

Turnips 

30.0 

120 

Vegetables,    canned: 

Baked  beans    

555 

Peas      (Pisutn     sativum), 
green   

235 

Corn,  green 

430 

Succotash    

425 

95 

Fruit,   berries,   etc.,   fresh: 
Apples     

25.0 

190 

*Plain  confectionery  not  containing  nuts,  fruit  or  chocolate. 

tSuch  vegetables  as  potatoes,  squash,  beets,  etc.,  have  a  certain 
amount  of  inedible  material — skin,  seeds,  etc.  The  amount  varies 
with  the  method  of  preparing  the  vegetables,  and  cannot  be  accu- 
rately estimated.  The  figures  given  for  refuse  of  vegetables,  fruits, 
etc.,  are  assumed  to  represent  approximately  the  amount  of  refuse 
in  these  foods  as  ordinarily  prepared. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence 


51 


,LE  I- 

—Continued 

Rcf- 

Water 

Pro- 

Fat 

V 

O    A 

Ash 

use 

tein 

6^ 

Food  Materials 
(as  purchased) 


VEGETABLE  FOOD — Continued 
Fruits,  berries,  etc.,  fresh:* 

Bananas    

Grapes    

Lemons   

Muskmelons 

Oranges    

Pears    

Persimmons,  edible  port'n. 

Raspberries    

Strawberries    

Watermelons    

Fruits,  dried: 

Apples     

Apricots    

Dates 

Figs   

Raisins    

Nuts: 

Almonds   

Brazil  nuts    

Butternuts    

Chestnuts,    fresh 

Chestnuts,  dried   

Cocoanuts     

Cocoanut,  prepared    

Filberts   

Hickory  nuts 

Pecans,  polished 

Peanuts     

Pinon  iPinus  deulis) 

Walnuts,  black    

Walnuts,  English 

Miscellaneous: 

Chocolate    

Cocoa,  powdered 

Cereal  coffee,  infusion  (i 
part  boiled  in  20  parts 
water)t   


Per 
cent. 

35.0 
25.0 
30.0 
50.0 
27.0 
10.0 


5.0 
59.4 


10.0 


10.0 

45.0 
49.6 
86.4 
16.0 
24.0 
t48.8 


52.1 
62.2 
53.2 
24.5 
40.6 
74.1 
58.1 


Per 
cent. 

48.9 
58.0 
62.5 
44.8 
63.4 
76.0 
66.1 
85.8 
85.9 
37.5 

28.1 
29.4 
13.8 
18.8 
13.1 

2.7 
2.6 

.6 
3.8 

.5 
7.2 
3.5 
1.8 
1.4 
1.4 
6.9 
2.0 

.6 
1.0 

5.9 
4.6 


Per 
cent. 

.8 
1.0 
.7 
.3 
.6 
.5 
.8 
1.0 
.9 
.2 

1.6 
4.7 
1.9 
4.3 

2.3 

11.5 
8.6 
3.8 
5.2 
8.1 
2.9 
6.3 
7.5 
5.8 
5.2 

19.5 
8.7 
7.2 
6.9 

12.9 
21.6 


.2 


Per 
cent. 

.4 

1.2 

.5 


.6 
.1 

2.2 
1.0 
2.5 
.3 
3.0 

30.2 

33.7 

8.3 

4.5 

5.3 

25.9 

57.4 

31.3 

25.5 

33.3 

29.1 

36.8 

14.6 

26.6 

48.7 
28.9 


Fuel 
Value 

per 
Pound 


Per 

Per 

cent. 

cent. 

14.3 

.6 

14.4 

.4 

5.9 

.4 

4.9 

.3 

8.5 

.4 

12.7 

.4 

31.5 

.9 

12  6 

.6 

7.0 

.6 

2.7 

.1 

66.1 

2.0 

62.5 

2.4 

70.6 

1.2 

74.2 

2.4 

68.5 

3.1 

9.5 

1.1 

3.5 

2.0 

.5 

.4 

85.4 

1.1 

56.4 

1.7 

14.3 

.9 

31.5 

1.3 

6.2 

1.1 

4.3 

.8 

6.2 

.7 

18.5 

1.5 

10.2 

1.7 

3.0 

.5 

6.8 

.6 

30.3 

2.2 

37.7 

7.2 

1.4 

.2 

260 

295 
125 

80 
150 
230 
550 
220 
150 

50 

1,185 
1,125 
1,275 
1.280 
1,;2G5 

1.515 

1,485 

385 

915 

1,385 

1,295 

2,865 

1.4.% 

1,145 

1,465 

1,775 

1,730 

730 

1,250 

5,625 
2,160 


30 


*Fruits  contain  a  certain  proportion  of  inedible  materials,  as  skin, 
seeds,  etc.,  which  are  properly  classed  as  refuse.  In  some  fruits,  as 
oranges  and  prunes,  the  amount  rejected  in  eating  is  practically  the 
same  as  refuse.  In  others,  as  apples  and  pears,  more  or  less  of  the 
edible  material  is  ordinarily  rejected  with  the  skin  and  seeds  and 
other  inedible  portions.  The  edible  material  which  is  thus  thrown 
away,  and  should  properly  be  classed  with  the  waste,  is  here  classed 
with  the  refuse.  The  figures  for  refuse  here  given  represent,  as 
nearly  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  quantities  ordinarily  rejected. 

tMilk  and  shell. 

JThe  average  of  five  analyses  of  cereal  coflFee  grain  is:  Water,  6.2; 
protein,  13.3;  fat,  3.4;  carbohydrates,  72.6;  and  ash,  4.5  per  cent. 
Only  a  portion  of  the  nutrients,  however,  enter  into  the  infusion. 
The  average  in  the  table  represents  the  available  nutrients  in  the 
beverage.  Infusions  of  genuine  coffee  and  tea  like  the  above  contain 
practically  no  nutrients, 


LESSON  7 

OBESITY— CAUSE  AND 
PREVENTION 

"Fat  paunches  have  lean  pates — and  dainty  bits  make  rich 
the  ribs,  but  bankrupt  quite  the  wits." — Shakespeare. 

Superfluous  adipose  (how  much  better 
that  sounds  when  applied  to  ourselves  than 
obesity  or  corpulence)  is  really  an  abnormal 
development  of  fatty  deposits  in  cellular  tis- 
sue, which  is  constantly  accumulating  by 
reason  of  excessive  nutrition.  All  stimu- 
lants and  rich  foods  force  the  process  of 
assimilation  into  abnormal  action,  which  re- 
sults in  inactivity  of  the  portal  system. 

Constipation  is  another  fertile  cause  of 
corpulence.  And  poisons  which  accumulate 
in  the  system  from  this  cause  alone  interfere 
seriously  with  the  functions  of  the  heart, 
liver,  kidneys  and  circulation. 

Hippocrates  taught  that  all  fatty  deposits 
decrease  the  size  of  arteries  and  veins,  thus 
causing  general  and  persistent  disturbances 
to  health.  Very  few  people  realize  the  danger 
to  life  itself  that  lurks  in  "obscured"  physi- 
cal outlines.     In  the  interior  of  the  body, 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  53 

also,  the  organic  functions  are  all  impaired 
or  seriously  hindered  by  pressure  and  weight 
of  fatty  deposits,  thus  causing  a  disturbance 
in  vital  economy  by  an  over-balance  of  heat  in 
the  form  of  carbon  which  has  accumulated 
in  the  system  instead  of  uniting  with  inspired 
oxygen  and  being  exhaled  from  the  lungs. 

In  treating  for  superfluous  flesh,  age,  sex, 
past  and  present  conditions  should  be  taken 
into  consideration.  A  knowledge  of  temper- 
ament is  also  of  vital  importance.  It  is  not 
generally  understood  in  the  Occident  that 
certain  dieting  and  drugging  have  a  directly 
opposite  effect  on  persons  of  opposite  tem- 
peraments. A  lymphatic  temperament  can 
stand  fasting  well,  where,  on  the  same 
regime,  a  sanguine-bilious  temperament 
would  probably  develop  serious  congestive 
conditions. 

Corpulence  is  rare  among  those  who 
breathe  deeply,  and  almost  unknown  among 
those  who  live  in  high  altitudes. 

All  stout  people  should  avoid  soups  and 
liquids  at  meals,  though  plenty  of  pure 
water,  or  with  a  dash  of  unsweetened  lemon 
or  any  fruit  juice,  should  be  used  freely  be- 
tween   meals.     Nitrogenous    foods,    which 


54  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

form  the  basis  of  tissue  building,  should  be 
restricted  to  one-fifth  of  the  food  eaten.  All 
sweets  and  sugar  foods  are  also  fattening. 
Stout  people  should  eat  not  more  than  twice 
a  day.  Hunger  is  a  habit,  often  more  sen- 
sational than  real.  After  the  first  few  days 
of  deprivation  the  sense  of  "all-goneness" 
so  often  complained  of  by  those  who  try  to 
skip  a  meal  is  replaced  by  a  sense  of  bouyancy 
and  endurance. 

Gluten  bread  is  excellent  in  a  reducing 
dietary.  So  also  is  hot  water  early  in  the 
morning  and  at  bedtime.  All  salads  and 
green  vegetables  and  sub-acid  fruits  may  be 
eaten  freely. 

By  introducing  as  little  carbon  as  possible 
into  the  system  in  the  form  of  food  the  body 
is  compelled  to  use  up  carbon  already  stored 
up  in  fatty  tissues,  and  so  by  a  natural  ab- 
sorption and  suitable  dieting  there  is  soon  a 
rapid  reduction  in  size  and  weight. 

The  writer  strongly  advises  a  mixed  diet. 
The  greatest  danger  to  health  lies  in  over- 
eating and  in  eating  too  often.  The  writer 
also  strongly  deprecates  violent  exercise  for 
stout  people.  Quiet,  persistent,  rhythmic, 
physical  efforts  in  energizing  not  only  de- 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  55 

velop  natural  lung  power  and  a  fine  contour, 
but  make  a  radical  change  in  the  health  of 
those  predisposed  to  corpulence. 

Fat  is  about  79  per  cent,  carbon,  and 
chemistry  has  long  ago  taught  that  oxygen 
has  a  special  affinity  for  carbon. 

In  following  any  suggestions  made  in  this 
lesson,  readers  must  study  themselves,  hav- 
ing regard  to  the  individual  rather  than 
common  needs. 

To  the  lack  of  oxygen  in  the  human  sys- 
tem can  be  traced  all  the  minor  ills  that 
flesh  is  heir  to.  Without  its  cleansing,  vital, 
energizing  qualities  life  is  only  half  lived. 

We  dread  sickness  and  death.  Fear  of 
those  conditions  seems  to  have  been  firmly 
implanted  in  the  human  mind  to  inspire  more 
care  of  "the  house  we  live  in.''  Growing  old 
as  the  years  flit  by  is  a  process  that  science 
has  not  yet  been  able  to  arrest,  but  we  may 
all  grow  old  healthfully  and  gracefully.  It 
rests  with  ourselves  if  the  depressions  and 
diseases  of  the  physical  forces  become  dom- 
inant. It  is  wiser  to  recognize  them  and 
work  for  their  alleviation  rather  than  to 
deny  their  existence. 

Physically,  circumstances  control  our  en- 


56  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

vironment  to  some  extent,  but  mentally,  we 
can  all  choose  our  dwelling  place. 

For  the  self-reliant,  the  brave,  the  true, 
the  hopeful,  universal  energy  is  equal  to 
every  demand  that  can  be  made  upon  it.  Old 
time  is  ever  flying,  and  it  is  best  to  gather  all 
the  sweetness  we  can  by  the  wayside.  To 
get  the  best  we  can  out  of  the  present  is  the 
best  preparation  for  the  future. 

In  health  or  disease  every  one  should  study 
food  in  its  relation  to  health  and  their  own 
powers  of  digestion.  Wait  always  for  a 
natural  inclination  for  heavy  food.  Di- 
gestion and  assimilation  have  to  follow  the 
act  of  swallowing.  We  should  control  our 
appetites  and  only  swallow  what  we  know 
we  can  digest  in  comfort,  assimilate  and  turn 
into  good  blood.  In  this  way  the  nutrition  of 
the  cellular  construction  of  the  body  is  gov- 
erned with  the  least  resistance. 

The  nutrition  of  every  part  of  the  body  is 
under  direct  control  of  the  nerve  centers. 
Certain  functions  of  the  nervous  system  reg- 
ulate the  respiration  and  circulation,  also 
secretion  and  excretion,  and  others  act  as 
electrical  currents  to  convey  vital  force  or 
nervous  energy  to  every  fiber  of  the  body. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  57 

Every  effort,  either  mental  or  physical,  in- 
volves the  expenditure  of  a  certain  amount  of 
nervous  energy,  which  in  normal  health  can 
readily  be  restored  from  day  to  day  by  proper 
attention  to  air,  food,  hygiene  and  sleep. 

It  is  due  to  ourselves  to  keep  the  heart 
youthful  in  its  emotions  and  to  aid  it  physi- 
cally in  its  marvelous  activity  of  controlling 
the  blood  stream,  which  is  constantly  pass- 
ing through  its  valves  at  about  the  rate  of 
seven  miles  an  hour. 

We  can  readily  lessen  the  strain  on  the 
heart  by  keeping  the  river  of  life  properly 
supplied  with  life  principles  and  to  see  to 
it  daily  that  its  mysterious  channels  and  by- 
ways are  kept  free  from  accumulating 
debris.  In  ''the  house  we  live  in"  can  be 
found  a  more  marvelously  perfect  system  of 
irrigation,  drainage  and  sewerage  than  mor- 
tal mind  has  ever  dreamed  of.  In  the  ex- 
halation of  the  breath  about  30  per  cent, 
waste  product  is  thrown  off  in  the  form  of 
poisonous  vapor,  only  about  6  per  cent,  by 
the  alimentary  tract  and  the  balance  should 
be  excreted  by  the  skin  and  kidneys. 

We  control  the  creative  or  destructive 
qualities  of  our  physical  forces  by  our  choice 


58  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

of  thought.  No  mind  is  large  enough  to 
hold  more  than  one  thought  at  a  time.  It 
is  now  an  established  fact  that  thoughts  and 
emotions  create  chemical  disturbances  in  the 
human  system  that  can  refresh  or  poison  the 
blood.  We  govern  these  processes  by  our 
mental  attitudes. 

An  acorn  has  within  its  little  shell  a  germ 
of  life  that  if  given  suitable  soil  and  environ- 
ment would  make  it  a  monarch  of  the  forest. 

Every  human  being  has  a  higher  con- 
sciousness, to  which  there  are  no  limitations, 
but  which  can  be  dwarfed  in  its  growth  if 
we  submit  unnecessarily  to  the  "ills  that 
flesh  is  heir  to.'' 

Men  who  retire  from  active  business  at 
middle  age  and  indulge  too  freely  in  the 
pleasures  of  the  table  always  put  on  super- 
fluous flesh. 

An  obtrusive  abdomen  in  men  is  invariably 
caused  by  over-activity  of  the  assimilative 
process,  often  created  by  powerful  excitants 
of  the  digestive  organs,  such  as  stimulating 
drinks  and  highly  seasoned  food. 

Fat  people  become  indolent  and  slow  of 
thought  and  action.  The  Greeks  and  Romans 
always  punished  soldiers  who  became  too 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  59 

fat,  and  by  frugal  diet,  vigorous  exercise, 
and  controlled  breathing,  prevented  the  ac- 
cumulation of  superfluous  flesh  in  themselves 
and  children. 

A  Greek  historian  left  on  record  that  the 
great  Dionysius  became  so  dull  and  idle 
through  corpulency  that  it  sometimes  became 
necessary  to  prick  his  skin  with  needles  or 
cover  him  with  hungry  leeches  to  wake  him 
from  his  lethargy. 

There  have  always  been  people  who,  like 
Shakespeare's  Falstaff,  have  been  "fat  and 
scant  o'  breath,"  and  in  medical  history  as 
far  back  as  the  days  of  Hippocrates  and 
Galen  one  learns  that  much  attention  was 
paid  to  the  cause  and  cure  of  corpulence. 

We  read  of  Hippocrates  advising  cold 
baths  (and  condemning  hot  ones),  fasting, 
exercise  and  unlimited  fresh  air.  (Fresh 
air  means  plenty  of  oxygen,  which  is  neces- 
sary to  burn  up  the  carbon  stored  away  in 
the  tissues  of  stout  people  in  the  form  of 
superfluous  fat.) 

Galen  advised  much  friction  and  manipu- 
lation of  the  body  and  a  frequent  sponging 
with  vegetable  acids. 

Physicians  of  later  date  suggested  breath- 


60  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

ing  gymnastics  and  great  attention  to  diet, 
forbidding  all  farinaceous  food.  Later  still 
the  Banting  cure  attracted  much  interest, 
but  that  is  a  system  that  compels  such  a 
radical  change  of  diet  and  habits  that  not 
every  one  can  stand  it  safely. 

During  the  period  of  dieting  enough  food 
should  be  eaten  to  keep  up  the  normal  strength. 

An  occasional  Turkish  bath  is  helpful  to 
eliminate  the  waste  products,  to  be  followed 
with  vigorous  massage,  especially  of  the  ab- 
domen. Many  excellent  exercises  for  re- 
ducing the  size  of  the  abdomen  will  be  found 
at  the  end  of  this  book. 

All  systems  of  dieting,  fasting,  bathing, 
breathing  and  medicating  should  be  adapted 
to  the  patient's  temperament,  of  which  too 
little  study  is  made  in  the  West. 

Very  hot  or  very  cold  baths  invigorate 
some  people  and  kill  others. 

In  dieting  for  obesity  one  should  avoid 
fats  and  carbohydrates.  Those  who  wish  to 
put  on  flesh  should  increase  the  fats  and 
carbohydrates.  All  starchy  foods,  all  sweets 
and  sugar  increase  the  tendency  to  fat.  Milk 
is  very  fattening  and  should  be  avoided  in 
the  dietary  of  stout  persons. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  61 

Water  is  the  best  beverage,  but  for  those 
who  must  have  it,  a  moderate  use  of  tea,  cof- 
fee and  Hght  wines  is  permitted,  though  not 
advised.   ( Do  not  give  up  any  habit  abruptly. ) 

Gluten  bread  is  excellent  in  a  reducing 
dietary,  so  also  is  hot  water.  Ordinary  bread 
should  be  baked  twice  or  toasted  dry,  and 
moderation  in  the  use  of  meat  be  strictly 
observed.  Pastry  and  puddings  must  be 
avoided  altogether.  All  acids  and  sub-acid 
fruits,  raw  or  cooked  without  sugar,  may  be 
eaten  freely,  and  all  vegetables  excepting 
those  that  contain  sugar  and  starch.  By  in- 
troducing as  little  carbon  as  possible  in  the 
form  of  food  the  body  is  reduced  to  living 
upon  accumulations  of  carbon  already  in  the 
system  stored  up  in  the  tissues  in  the  form 
of  fat.  This,  by  natural  absorption,  aids  in 
the  rapid  reduction  of  size  and  weight. 

White  foods  are  best  suited  to  persons  of 
a  sanguineous  or  bilious  temperament,  such 
as  veal,  white  fish,  chicken  and  most  of  the 
watery,  gelatinous  and  albuminous  sub- 
stances, while  those  of  a  lymphatic  tempera- 
ment may  eat  all  solid  animal  foods,  which 
for  distinction  we  may  class  as  red  foods, 
such  as  beef,  mutton  and  game. 


LESSON   8 

SIMPLIFIED  VOICE  BUILDING  (OF 

VALUE  TO  PUBLIC  SPEAKERS, 

TEACHERS  AND  CHILDREN). 

VOICE  PICTURES 
SIMPLIFIED  VOICE  BUILDING 

The  marvelous  power  provided  by  Nature 
for  the  production  of  a  rightly  placed  voice 
(either  for  speaking  or  singing)  may  readily 
increase  vitality  for  the  whole  system,  or  a 
wrong  method  of  voice  cultivation  may  cause 
serious  disturbance  of  the  nervous  system, 
apart  from  actual  injury  to  throat  and  vocal 
chords. 

Absolute  control  of  the  breathing  muscles 
is  the  basis  of  perfect  articulation  for  speech 
or  song. 

The  lungs  and  respiration  muscles  control 
tone.  Tone  placing  is  a  matter  of  study  and 
cultivation,  which,  however,  can  be  simpli- 
fied to  meet  a  common  need. 

All  tones  for  speech  or  vocalization  should 
be  brought  as  far  forward  in  the  mouth  as 
possible.     The  average  child  has  a  shrill, 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  63 

high,  nasal  voice  or  a  throaty  tone,  caused 
by  placing  the  voice  too  far  back  in  the 
mouth — about  where  the  sound  ah  comes  in 
voices  that  have  not  been  cultivated.  This 
defect  can  at  once  be  overcome  if  they  are 
taught  to  zvhisper  properly  with  the  lips. 

Let  the  reader  zvhisper  a  sentence  or  verse 
of  a  song.  Note  where  the  formation  of  the 
words  arrange  themselves,  and  then  in  low 
tones  say  the  words,  keeping  the  formation 
of  the  words  in  the  same  place  as  when 
whispering.  Example:  Sing  the  broad 
ah-a-a.  With  the  average  child  the  sound 
will  be  wholly  in  the  throat.  Let  them  in  the 
same  tone  and  breath  turn  the  broad  ah  into 
the  sound  oo,  or  who,  and  at  once  the  tone 
will  be  outside  the  lips  without  conscious 
effort.  Then,  while  still  sounding  oo,  turn 
it  into  ah  and  the  ah  also  will  be  found  to  be, 
zmthotit  effort,  well  in  front  of  the  mouth. 

Sounds  are  produced  by  the  vibration  of 
the  vocal  chords,  which  respond  to  our  will, 
when  we  wish  to  emit  a  sound  on  a  breath, 
but  which  allow  a  constant  quiet  current  of 
air  to  and  from  the  lungs  without  causing 
sufficient  vibration  to  make  sound,  unless  we 
control  the  breath. 


64  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

Motive  power  for  sound  is  of  course  sup- 
plied by  the  lungs,  the  organs  of  respiration, 
which  fill  the  chest  cavity.  Air  reaches  the 
lungs  by  way  of  the  larynx  and  trachea,  or 
wind-pipe,  which  divides  into  the  right  and 
left  bronchus.  Each  bronchus  divides  into 
many  smaller  bronchi,  the  smallest  of  them 
ending  in  the  air  cells  of  the  lungs.  On  the 
walls  of  the  air  cells  can  be  found  a  marvel- 
ous network  of  capillaries,  and  in  the  act  of 
respiration  an  exchange  is  set  up  at  this 
juncture  between  the  blood  and  the  air,  the 
blood  throwing  off  waste  matter  in  the  form 
of  carbonic  acid  gas  and  renewing  its  supply 
of  oxygen.  This  process  of  exchange  is  con- 
trolled by  breathing.  In  inhalation,  the  air 
cells  are  expanded,  and  this  expansion  should 
affect  the  chest  cavity  in  all  its  diameters, 
lateral,  antero-posterior  and  vertical. 

When  one  remembers  that  the  chest  is  con- 
ical in  shape,  with  its  upper  end  much  nar- 
rower than  its  base,  it  is  easy  to  realize  the 
chest  was  not  designed  by  Nature  for  high 
chest  expansion  only. 

Not  only  is  the  clavicular,  or  upper  chest, 
expansion  contrary  to  natural  laws,  but 
Nature's   own   design   of   breathing   is   re- 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  65 

versed.  In  taking  the  high  chest  breath  the 
shoulders  and  collar  bones  are  raised,  the 
abdominal  muscles  are  drawn  in,  the  dia- 
phragm is  drawn  upward,  thus  crowding  the 
heart  and  the  lower  edges  of  the  lungs.  This 
is  the  most  unnatural  method  of  expanding 
the  chest,  though  even  in  this  advanced  era 
it  is  being  taught.  High  chest  breathing  that 
involves  muscular  effort  is  contrary  to  the 
natural  law  of  expansion  and  contraction. 
Costal  breathing  is  almost  as  detrimental, 
both  to  the  voice  and  general  health. 

In  normal  breathing,  as  Nature  designed 
and  finished  her  handiwork,  the  chest  is  in- 
creased in  all  its  diameters  (vertical,  lateral 
and  antero-posterior).  This  can  only  be 
brought  about  by  the  proper  use  of  the  dia- 
phragm, a  dome-shaped  muscle  that  serves  as 
a  boundary  and  divides  the  chest  from  the  ab- 
dominal cavity.  In  normal  breathing  the  dia- 
phragm takes  a  rhythmic  dip  downward  with 
every  inspiration.  This  flattens  its  arch  and 
largely  increases  the  size  of  the  chest  cavity, 
a  wise  provision  of  Nature,  giving  the  lungs 
room  for  rhythmic  expansion  with  every  in- 
halation, and  by  the  same  movement  the 
downward  pressure  of  the  diaphragm  gives 


66  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

continuous  involuntary  vibration  to  the  stom- 
ach, Hver,  spleen,  etc. 

In  inspiration  the  lungs  fill  by  inflation 
as  much  of  the  chest  cavity  as  the  respiratory 
muscles  will  permit.  In  exhalation  the  move- 
ment of  both  chest  and  lungs  seem  to  be 
automatic  and  free  from  muscular  effort, 
unless  expired  forcibly.  Those  who  wish  per- 
fect control  of  respiratory  muscles  for  health 
or  voice  should  often  practice  inspiring  very 
slowly  with  as  little  muscular  effort  as  would 
be  used  in  inhaling  the  perfume  of  a  favorite 
flower.  In  exhaling,  puff  the  cheeks  and  blow 
out  a  tiny  stream,  controlling  it  at  intervals 
by  holding  the  breath.  Children  should  be 
encouraged  to  whistle  and  blow  bubbles. 

In  taking  breath  there  should  be  no  ap- 
parent effort  while  using  the  voice,  and  there 
would  be  no  necessary  effort  if  the  olfactory 
nerves  have  been  trained  to  take  their  auto- 
matic share  in  the  control  of  respiration. 

Rapid  increase  in  physical  strength  and 
additional  measurement  of  the  chest  follow 
exercises  in  breathing  controlled  by  olfactory 
nerve  influence.  This  method  involves  the 
use  of  the  costal  muscles  (superior  and  in- 
ferior) as  well  as  the  diaphragm.    The  ab- 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  67 

dominal  walls  should  remain  passive  in 
speaking  or  singing  excepting  for  the  slight 
rhythm  caused  by  the  vibration  of  the  dia- 
phragm. The  experience  of  the  author,  cov- 
ering a  period  of  many  years'  observation 
and  practical  work,  indicate  that  in  defective 
breathing  children,  after  about  two  weeks' 
drill  in  the  proper  use  of  the  diaphragm,  the 
breathing  becomes  natural  and  the  chest  ex- 
pansion remains  permanent  zvithout  con- 
scions  muscular  control.  This  enables  the 
lungs  to  remain  fully  inflated,  merely  chang- 
ing their  residual  air  automatically  instead 
of  forcibly.  Students  must  add  to  this  high 
chest  position  the  art  of  throwing  weight  of 
body  on  halls  of  feet  instead  of  heels  in  stand- 
ing and  zvalking,  zvhen  at  once,  without  con- 
scious effort,  the  abdomen  is  flattened,  the 
spinal  column  straightened  and  chest  remains 
high,  zvithout  conscious  muscular  control. 

For  the  majority  of  people  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere  normal  breathing  has  become  a 
lost  art,  but  all  healthy  normal  children  are 
born  breathing  with  full  lung  inflation,  and 
not  until  they  have  had  a  series  of  colds  and 
nasal  trouble  do  they  become  defective 
breathers. 


68  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

Breathing  muscles  rest  automatically  in 
correct  use  of  the  diaphragm,  because  with 
every  inspiration  resistance  is  followed  by 
relaxation.  During  the  classic  ages  control 
of  intervals  between  inhalation  and  exhala- 
tion was  considered  of  great  importance  to 
health  and  curative  power  in  disease. 

In  the  Upanishads  of  ancient  India  one 
reads,  ''What  is  self?  It  is  the  understand- 
ing of  the  man  between  the  breaths/^ 

In  Dallas'  "Chinesiology,"  Paris,  1857, 
one  reads,  ''Two  thousand  years  before  the 
Christian  era  the  Chinese  understood  the 
healing  power  of  breath  and  used  a  very  com- 
plicated method  of  breathing,  while  holding 
difficult  positions  of  the  body,  for  the  treat- 
ment of  disease." 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  Galen  and  other 
physicians  of  that  period  often  prescribed 
"Cohibitio  Spiritus"  (holding  of  the  breath) 
for  healing  of  the  sick,  teaching  that  such 
efforts  would  improve  health,  expand  chest, 
increase  growth,  etc. 

Plato  also  had  much  to  say  about  the  heal- 
ing power  of  breath. 

Control  of  breath  is  as  necessary  in  public 
speaking  as  in  singing. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  69 

In  re-establishing  rhythmic  breathing 
(Nature's  best  gift)  we  must  learn  to  hasten 
slowly.  He  who  only  half  breathes  only  half 
lives,  and  has  no  real  control  of  his  nerves  or 
voice.  In  public  speaking  or  singing  one 
should  never  use  the  voice  on  a  forced  breath. 
The  throat  should  be  free  from  tension,  the 
diaphragm  should  be  automatic  in  inhalation 
and  absolutely  passive  in  exhalation.  The 
method  of  holding  the  chest  in  public  speak- 
ing or  singing  is  similar,  except  that  in  speak- 
ing for  full,  deep  and  sonorous  tones  the  chest 
should  be  held  a  little  more  firmly  at  the  base. 
The  reader  can  get  the  meaning  at  once  by 
inhaling  a  long,  gentle  breath  and  whispering 
the  letter  e  rather  forcibly,  but  after  nostrils 
and  respiratory  muscles  have  been  properly 
trained  for  inhalation  the  high,  firm  chest 
will  remain  expanded  without  effort. 

Public  speakers,  school-teachers  and 
others  who  have  to  use  their  voices  con- 
tinuously get  hoarseness,  clergymen's  throat 
and  often  loss  of  voice,  not  from  over-use  of 
the  vocal  chords,  but  from  had  management 
of  the  breath,  cidtivating  the  artificial  for  the 
natural. 

Throat  muscles,  like  all  others,  grow  fa- 


70  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

tigued  from  use,  and  when  overtaxed  become 
congested  and  inflamed.  This  condition  is 
invariably  caused  by  straining,  giving  the 
tone  too  much  breath.  Tones  should  not  be 
forced  out  of  the  throat.  They  should  float 
out  of  the  lips  on  a  controlled  breath  of  air. 
This  means  regulated  respiration,  improved 
physical  health  and  improved  general  physi- 
cal conditions.  People  who  use  their  voices 
much  should  pay  especial  attention  to  the 
hygiene  of  the  nasal  passages.  Catarrhal 
troubles  are  evidence  of  neglected  colds.  In 
ordinary  health,  when  nostril  breathing  is 
normal,  air  will  be  filtered,  warmed,  moist- 
ened and  probably  sterilized,  before  it  reaches 
the  bronchi,  and  the  vocal  chords  will  secrete 
their  own  lubricant. 

The  most  important  point  in  the  hygiene 
of  nostrils  is  the  daily  habit  of  increasing 
their  energy  by  inspiring  on  alternate  nos- 
trils every  morning  at  an  open  window  as  a 
part  of  the  morning  toilet.  This  at  once  re- 
lieves the  lungs  of  waste  matter  accumulated 
during  sleep. 

Control  of  the  breath  is  the  first  essential 
for  public  speakers.  It  is  also  largely  instru- 
mental in  the  cure  of  stammering. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  71 

The  quality  of  vocal  sounds  depends 
largely  upon  the  management  of  the  breath. 
Tone  placing  in  children  means  the  proper 
use  of  the  voice.  The  vocal  chords  are  two 
flexible  muscles  susceptible  of  expansion, 
contraction  and  vibration.  They  are  situated 
in  the  larynx  (the  sound  chamber),  which  in 
turn  is  fitted  with  a  marvelous  arrangement 
of  membranes  and  muscles,  all  requisite  for 
the  articulation  of  the  human  voice. 

Air  may  pass  through  the  vocal  chords 
without  vibrating  them  sufficiently  to  create 
sound,  which  readily  proves  that  will  power 
and  conscious  management  of  the  breath  are 
the  cause  and  effect  of  tone  placing.  In 
training  the  child's  voice  for  singing,  the 
management  of  the  breath  in  inspiration  and 
expiration  and  tone  placing  is  of  infinite 
value  in  the  early  stages,  because  while  many 
children  can  be  taught  to  inspire  slowly,  very 
few  have  the  least  idea  of  controlling  the 
breath  in  exhalation,  and  usually  expel  the 
breath  in  a  full  blast.  This  could  be  easily 
overcome  by  teaching  them  to  pout  the  lips 
and  puff  the  cheeks  while  they  blow  and  con- 
trol an  even,  tiny  stream  of  air.  This  helps 
to  keep  the  chest  high,  the  shoulders  down, 


72  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

and  soon  fills  out  the  hollows  at  the  base  of 
the  throat  caused  by  shallow  breathing. 

To  improve  the  speaking  voice  children 
should  practice  zvhispering  frequently,  and 
gently  sounding  labials,  h,  p,  m,  and  so  on. 
The  vowels  are  all  formed  in  the  throat,  and 
when  using  them  for  exercises  in  the  child 
or  the  adult  it  is  best  to  prefix  the  vowels 
with  a  labial,  such  as  mouth,  me,  ma,  beau, 
ba,  be,  bi,  boo,  etc. 

Gently  hum  labial  sounds  on  all  tones  of 
the  compass.  The  wrong  tone  placing  of 
vowels  are  responsible  for  impaired  vocal 
chords,  strained  throat  muscles,  etc.  This  is 
not  a  singing  lesson,  but  it  means  very  much 
if  every  one  who  has  charge  of  children  will 
do  even  a  little  for  the  children's  voices.  At 
their  different  recitations  let  them  cultivate 
the  ear  by  listening  to  and  feeling  for  the 
sounds  that  can  be  created  in  the  resonance 
chambers  of  their  own  heads  and  faces.  En- 
courage them  to  play  at  tone  placing.  Let 
them  sound  the  broad  ah.  Let  them  feel  with 
their  fingers  the  sound  vibrated  at  the  base 
of  the  throat.  Then  let  them  turn  the  same 
sound  on  the  same  tone  into  oo  or  zvho,  and 
they  will  find  the  tone  outside  the  lips.    Let 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  7Z 

them  practice  a — oo  until  all  itself  can  be 
formed  on  the  lips  instead  of  in  the  throat. 
Let  them  place,  without  sounding,  such 
words  as  please,  plozv,  and  so  on. 

In  the  song  primer  by  Alys  E.  Bentley 
(A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co.,  New  York  City)  will 
be  found  some  splendid  hints  for  developing 
tones  in  apparently  "tone  deaf  children. 
Miss  Bentley  writes : 

"The  whole  question  of  breathing  and 
phrasing  will  be  generally  understood  when 
we  train  our  children  to  become  sensitive  to 
movement  in  songs  as  we  train  them  to  be- 
come sensitive  to  movement  in  reading.  .  .  . 
Do  not  be  thrown  off  by  the  technical  terms 
and  expressions  used  by  people  who  do  not 
know  just  what  they  are  talking  about.  Trust 
your  own  good  common  sense  and  feeling  for 
movement.  Expression  in  song  is  not  a 
strange  and  unknown  thing,  but  a  very 
simple  and  direct  known  thing.  Rhythm  is 
not  something  outside  of  us  that  we  can  only 
get  by  watching  a  wooden  stick  in  the  hand 
of  a  wooden  man.  No,  it  is  a  real,  beating, 
throbbing  thing  within  the  soul  and  heart  of 
every  boy  and  girl  in  your  school."  .  .  . 

"No  one  object  of  human  pursuit  demands 


74  Rhythmic  Breathing  phis 

so  complete  an  organic  training  as  music,  and 
were  it  pursued  as  a  human  end,  for  its  effect 
upon  the  human  person,  it  could  be  made  a 
tremendous  contribution  to  organic  culture. 
With  this  change  of  motive  there  would,  as 
in  the  art  world,  be  a  distinct  change  of 
method.  .  .  .  When  vocal  music  is  taught  as 
a  human  art  and  not  as  a  contribution  to 
human  perfection  and  not  as  an  end  in  itself, 
it  will  carry  on  its  work  along  the  lines  of 
cause  and  effect.  That  is  to  say,  through  the 
interest  and  spontaneity  and  affection  of  the 
learner.  It  will  be  given  as  an  agent  to 
culture  to  increase  the  health  and  poise  and 
sight  and  hearing  and  voice  and  touch.  The 
organic  human  power  of  those  whose  high 
privilege  it  is  to  learn  music  and  to  offer 
them  a  superb  medium  for  the  expression  of 
the  profound  aspirations  of  the  spirit." — 
C.  Hanford  Henderson,  w  ''Education  and 
the  Larger  Life/' 

While  modern  writers  talk  about  ''over- 
tones" and  "color  scales''  etc.,  a  perusal  of 
ancient  literature  would  indicate  that  history 
is  merely  repeating  itself,  and  that  King  Sol- 
omon knew  whereof  he  spoke  when  he  said, 
*There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun."     A 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  75 

geometric  scale  on  next  page  of  voice  or 
sound  pictures,  will  demonstrate  what  mod- 
ern discovery  is  doing  with  sound.  Hindu 
literature  of  very  ancient  date  gives  us  a 
musical  octave  of  twenty-two  intervals,  on 
a  basis  of  seven  fundamental  tones  and  an 
interesting  comparative  table  of  vibrations 
in  the  musical  color  scale. 

See  chapter  on  Origin  of  Music. 

The  highest  authorities  (Hemholtz  and 
Tyndall)  admit  that  a  sound  composed  of 
air-waves  from  the  voice  will  not  stir  a  dia- 
phragm unless  in  unison  with  its  vibrational 
number.  Here  are  the  words  of  Hemholtz, 
which  will  forever  settle  this  matter: 

"The  intensity  of  sympathetic  vibration 
with  a  semitone  difference  of  pitch  is  only 
one-tenth  of  what  it  is  for  a  complete  uni- 
son. .  .  .  Hence,  when  we  hereafter  speak 
of  individual  parts  of  the  ear  vibrating  sym- 
pathetically with  a  determinate  tone,  we 
mean  that  they  are  set  into  strongest  motion 
by  that  tone  (unison),  but  so  air  also  set  into 
vibration  less  strongly  by  tones  of  nearly  the 
same  pitch,  and  that  this  sympathetic  vibra- 
tion is  still  sensible  for  the  interval  of  a 
semitone." 


76  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

Galileo  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to 
notice  the  points  of  rest  and  motion  in  the 
sounding-board  of  a  musical  instrument ;  but 
to  Chladni  is  due  the  whole  discovery  of  the 
symmetrical  forms  of  the  nodal  lines  in 
vibrating  plates.  Certain  electrical  experi- 
ments of  Lichtenberg  suggested  to  Chladni 
the  idea  of  scattering  fine  sand  over  the  plate 
or  disc,  whose  motions  he  wished  to  examine. 
If  a  horizontal  plate  covered  with  fine  sand 
is  set  in  vibration,  those  parts  which  move 
upwards  and  downwards  scatter  the  sand 
from  their  neighborhood,  while  on  those 
parts  which  undergo  no  change  of  position 
sand  will  remain.  Such  points  are  called 
nodes;  and  rows  of  such  points  are  called 
nodal  lines,  which  may  be  either  straight  or 
curved,  according  to  circumstances. 

If  a  square  piece  of  glass  is  held  by  a  suit- 
able clamp  at  its  center,  and  the  middle  point 
of  a  side  is  touched,  while  a  bow  is  drawn 
across  the  edge  near  a  corner,  the  sand  is 
seen  to  gather  together  in  the  form  of  a 
cross,  dividing  the  square  into  four  equal 
squares,  like  a  cross  of  St.  George. 

When  we  take  a  circular  plate  of  glass, 
clamped  at  the  middle,  and  touching  one  part 


Metric  table  dividing  the  base  of  a  square  in  geometric  harmony 
by  2,   3,   4,   5,   6,   7,   and  8. 

This  table  numbers  the  harmonic  nodes  of  a  musical  string  and 
measures  the  relative  distance  between  them. 

Number  and  node  are  identical.  The  geometric  or  visible  har- 
mony,  and   the   audible   harmony   existing  by   the   same   law. 

To  illustrate  the  nodal  system,  or  number  in  the  harmonic  scale, 
I  have  selected  the  lower  line  of  the  bass  cleff  to  represent  the 
cello  G  string  and  give  the  tone  its   proper  location. 

The  string,  by  single  vibrations,  produces  a  monotone  or  musical 
unit;  which  is  not  a  harmonic  but  a  pedal  tonic. 

Next  the  string  is  divided  into  two  equal  parts  by  the  middle 
node,  giving  a  unison  of  two  tones  from  the  middle  to  each  end, 
which  is  the  double  tonic,  vibrating  twice  while  the  pedal  tonic 
vibrates   once. 

The  next  number  divides  the  line  or  string  by  three,  and  in  a 
unison  of  three  tones  we  get  the  dominant,  which  vibrates  a  third 
more   than   the   double   tonic   in   the   same  tempo. 

Next  comes  the  harmonic  fourth,  by  the  string  vibrating  in  four 
sections,  and  the  vibrations  count  a  fourth  more  than  the  dominant 
in  the  same  tempo.  All  the  following  harmonics  are  subject  to  the 
same  rule  in  the  numbers  that   follow  each   other. 

Now  this  illustration  holds  good  in  one  unison  vibrating  once 
more  in  time  than  one  unison  of  the  next  number  below.  But  when 
we  demonstrate  the  ultimate  relation  of  number  in  the  open  string 
and  the  first  harmonic,  it  is  one  to  four;  for  while  the  open  string 
vibrates  once,  the  first  harmonic  vibrates  twice  in  two  sections,  so 
the  number  of  vibrations  in  each  section  are  multiplied  by  two,  and 
by  this  rule  the  actual  mathematical  relation  of  the  tenth  harmonic 
to  the  open  string,  by  counting  all  the  vibrations,  is  one  hundred 
to   one. 

Next  we  will  take  the  relation  of  numbers  in  Geometric  Harmony, 
which   is  identical  with  harmonic  nodes.    For  example: 

Draw  a  straight  line. 

Now  give  number  i  to  each  end  of  it;  then  divide  it  by  2,  then 
by  3,  then  by  4,  then  by  5,  and  put  down  these  numbers  where  the 
measurements    occur. 

You  will  find  the  distance  between  5  and  4  to  be  just  one-fifth 
the  distance  between  i  and  4,  or  by  adding  i  and  4  you  get  5,  and 
5  indicates  the  ratio  of  i  to  4  in  the  measurements  between  these 
numbers. 

Each  end  of  the  middle  fifth  lies  between  2  and  3,  and  marks  the 
distance  between,  in  the  ratio  of  2  to  3. 

You  also  find  a  tenth  of  the  whole  line  between  5  and  2,  which  is 
their  multiple,  and  between  5  and  3  you  find  a  fifteenth  of  the  whole 
line,  which  is  one  part  of  their  multiple.  So  much  for  number  five  in 
a  musical  string,  or  a  straight  line.  All  following  numbers  are  sub- 
ject to  the   same  rules. 

All  regular  forms  and  irregular  deviations  in  the  above  chart  show 
a  center  of  their  area,  and  all  the  intersections  bear  a  mathematical 
relation  to  each   other  throughout. 

Geometric  harmony  is  produced  by  the  kindred  values  of  number 
in  form.  It  reveals  properties  in  the  circle,  plane  line,  triangle  and 
square,   that  cannot  be   obtained   by  mathematics  alone. 

It  measures  the  base  of  a  square  by  its  hypothenuse  or  diameter. 
It  measures  the  radiant  chord  of  a  circle  by  its  diameter,  and  gives 
you  a  perfect  musical  scale  in  harmonic  ratios. 

Music  is  a  scientific  fact  and  without  the  requisite  form  is  just 
as  injurious  to  the  musical  ear  as  deformity  is  to  the  artistic  eye. 


NOTATION   OF   HARMONIC   SCALE   TO   NO.   8,    'CELLO  G. 


U-U. 


DR.  J.   MOUNT  BLEYER  S   AND   MELVILLE   M.  WILSON  S    SCALE 


■^^ 1! 


Sc^rtinc  Q    !    1.0W    Q        I  I>\tdiile  A. 


^^4JkD      i  >^A^  E        lAi^iAkF 


IX  J  M 


\       I 


H  I  i  '/ 


DR.   BLEYER  S  VOICE  FIGURES  OF  VARIOUS 
PITCH 


MRS.    HUGHES     DIATONIC    SCALE 

(by  permission),  from  Voice  Pictures. 


_5> 


^V" 

^^ 

/^ 

/^. 

m 

^ 

CHALDI-S  FIGURES 

Showing  the  vibrating  surface  when 
sand  divides  it  into  squares.  The  figures 
marked  A,  A,  are  in  different  stages  of 
vibration  from  those  marked  B,  B. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  77 

of  its  edge  with  the  finger,  draw  the  bow 
across  a  point  of  the  edge  half  a  quadrant 
from  the  finger,  we  see  the  sand  arrange 
itself  along  two  diameters  intersecting  at 
right  angles.  If  the  bow  is  drawn  at  a  point 
one-third  of  a  quadrant  from  the  finger- 
clamped  point,  we  get  a  six-pointed  star.  If 
the  bow  is  drawn  at  a  fourth  of  a  quadrant 
from  the  finger-clamped  point,  we  get  an 
eight-pointed  star.  And  so  we  can  get  the 
sand  to  arrange  itself  into  a  star  of  any  even 
number  of  points ;  that  is,  we  can  get  a  star 
of  four,  six,  eight,  ten,  twelve,  etc.,  points, 
but  not  of  three,  five,  seven,  etc. 

A  curious  effect  is  produced  if  very  fine 
powder  be  strewn  along  with  the  sand  over 
the  plate,  for  it  is  found  that  the  dust  gathers, 
not  where  the  nodes  or  places  of  no  vibration 
lie,  but  where  the  motion  is  greatest.  Fara- 
day assigns  as  the  cause  of  this  peculiarity 
the  circumstance  that  "the  light  powder  is 
entangled  by  the  little  whirlwinds  of  air  pro- 
duced by  the  vibrations  of  the  plate ;  it  cannot 
escape  from  the  little  cyclones,  though  the 
heavier  sand  particles  are  readily  driven 
through  them;  when,  therefore,  the  motion 
ceases,  the  light  powder  settles  down  in  heaps 


78  Rhythmic  Breathing  phis 

at  the  places  where  the  vibration  was  a  max- 
imum." In  proof  of  this  theory  we  have  the 
fact  that  "in  vacua  no  such  effects  are  pro- 
duced; all  powders,  light  or  heavy,  move  to 
the  nodal  lines." — Tyndall  on  Sound. 

Professor  Wheatstone  has  shown,  in  a 
paper  read  before  the  Royal  Society  in  1883, 
that  all  Chladni's  figures,  and,  indeed,  all  the 
nodal  figures  of  vibrating  surfaces,  result 
from  very  simple  nodis  of  vibration,  oscil- 
lating isochronously,  and  superposed  upon 
each  other,  the  resulting  figures  varying  with 
the  component  nodes  of  vibration,  the  num- 
ber of  the  superposition  and  the  angles  at 
which  they  are  superposed.  For  example,  if 
a  square  plate  be  vibrating  so  as  to  make  the 
sand  arrange  itself  in  straight  lines  parallel 
to  one  side  of  the  plate,  and  if,  in  addition 
to  this,  such  vibration  be  excited  as  would 
have  caused  the  sand  to  form  in  lines  per- 
pendicular to  the  first  had  the  plate  been  at 
rest,  the  combined  vibrations  will  make  the 
sand  form  in  hills  from  corner  to  corner. 

The  varieties  of  vibratory  motion  to  which 
the  diaphragm  of  the  telephone  has  been  ^ 
made  to  respond  have  been  multitudinous. 
Not  only  have  all  orders  of  sound,  singly  and 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  79 

together,  been  responded  to,  but  vocal  sounds 
which  in  many  respects  differ  widely  from 
ordinary  tones  are  repeated,  and  the  pecul- 
iarities of  intonation  which  distinguish  one 
voice  from  another  have  been  faithfully  re- 
produced. 

We  now  know  that  the  speaking  diaphragm 
in  the  telephone,  as  in  the  phonograph,  must 
reproduce  not  only  all  the  varieties  of  sound- 
pulses  corresponding  to  vowel  sounds,  with 
their  intermixtures  of  the  fundamental  tone 
and  its  over-tones  and  their  inflexions  or 
sliding  changes  of  pitch,  but  also  all  the 
efifects  produced  on  the  receiving  diaphragm 
by  those  interruptions,  complete  or  partial, 
of  aerial  emission  which  correspond  to  the 
pronunciation  of  the  various  consonant 
sounds.  It  might  certainly  have  seemed 
hopeless,  from  all  that  had  been  known  or 
surmised  respecting  the  effects  of  aerial 
vibrations  on  flexible  diaphragms,  to  attempt 
to  make  a  diaphragm  speak  artificially — in 
other  words,  to  make  the  movements  of  all 
parts  of  it  correspond  with  those  of  a  dia- 
phragm set  in  vibration  by  spoken  words,  etc. 
— by  movements  affecting  only  its  central 
part.     It  is  in  the  recognition  of  the  possi- 


80  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

bility  of  this,  or  rather  in  the  discovery  of 
the  fact  that  the  movements  of  a  minute  por- 
tion of  the  middle  of  a  diaphragm  regulate 
the  vibratory  and  other  movements  of  the 
entire  diaphragm,  that  the  great  scientific 
interest  of  Professor  Graham  Bell's  re- 
searches appear  to  reside. 

It  was  reserved,  however,  to  Thomas  A. 
Edison  to  show  how  advantage  might  be 
taken  of  this  discovery  to  make  a  diaphragm 
speak,  not  directly  through  the  action  of  the 
movements  of  a  diaphragm  affected  by 
spoken  words  or  other  sounds,  and  therefore 
either  simultaneously  with  these  or  in  such 
quick  succession  after  them  as  corresponds 
with  the  transmission  of  their  effect  along 
some  line  of  electrical  or  other  communica- 
tion, but  by  the  mechanical  reproduction  of 
similar  movements  at  any  subsequent  time 
(within  certain  limits  at  present,  but  prob- 
ably hereafter  with  practically  unlimited  ex- 
tension as  to  time). 

For  voice  pictures,  geometric  scale  and 
data  we  are  indebted  to  Dr.  Bleyer  and  other 
distinguished  scientific  investigators. 


THE    VINA    OF    INDIA 

(Earliest  known  stringed  instrument) 


LESSON    9 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  MUSIC— EAST 
INDIAN  TRADITION 

Traditions  of  the  music  of  India  have 
many  interesting  mythological  associations. 
Many  of  the  Hindu  gods  and  goddesses  of 
mythology  are  represented  not  only  as 
patrons  of  art,  but  as  inventors  of  musical 
instruments  and  composers  of  music  and 
poetry. 

Saraswati,  the  Hindu  Goddess  of  Music 
and  Speech,  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  to 
arrange  a  system  of  sounds  into  a  musical 
scale.  She  is  always  pictured  as  seated  on 
a  peacock,  holding  the  Vina,  the  earliest 
known  stringed  instrument  (a  picture  of  a 
V^ina  of  very  early  date  illustrates  this 
chapter). 

The  consort  of  Saraswati  is  depicted  in 
the  same  scene  as  a  vigorous  man  keeping 
time  by  beating  a  drum,  Vishnu,  in  his  Re- 
incarnation of  Krishna,  is  depicted  in  the 
same  scene  as  a  beautiful  youth  playing  on  a 
lute,    and    Ganesha    (symbol    of   wisdom). 


^2  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

always  represented  in  the  guise  of  an  ele- 
phant, is  in  the  same  group. 

Even  at  this  late  date  all  musical  cere- 
monies in  India  are  commenced  by  playing 
an  ode  of  praise  to  the  Goddess  of  Music. 

The  Rig  Veda,  the  oldest  tradition  pre- 
served in  literary  form,  contains  songs  and 
hymns  of  praise.  The  early  poets  of  India 
were  called  Rishas,  and  were  held  in  great 
esteem  and  veneration.  They  sang  and  re- 
cited their  own  compositions  and  accom- 
panied them  on  the  Vina. 

The  musical  octave  of  Indian  music  is 
idealized  in  the  form  of  exquisite  nymphs. 
It  is  divided  into  seven  parts — division,  tone, 
melody,  time,  rhythm,  harmony  and  poetry. 

The  musical  scale  of  India  has  twenty-two 
intervals  to  an  octave,  always  keeping  on  a 
basis  of  seven  fundamental  tones,  and  music 
is  written  in  that  country  in  thirty-six  differ- 
ent keys,  an  interesting  reason  for  which 
can  be  found  in  Hindu  mythology.  Some 
of  their  music  is  only  used  at  the  different 
seasons  of  the  year,  and  many  songs  are 
arranged  to  symbolize  the  moods  of  the  dif- 
ferent seasons. 

The  Hindus  call  the  human  voice  a  gift 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  ^Z 

from  the  gods,  and  claim  that  one  who  has 
full  knowledge  of  the  power  of  the  human 
voice  can  cultivate  more  than  mortal  charm. 

They  say,  too,  that  a  repetition  of  certain 
tones  of  the  musical  scale  can  stimulate  the 
mind,  awaken  the  soul  and  arouse  the  inborn 
divinity  of  man.  Also,  that  musical  sounds 
properly  understood  would  obliterate  evil 
tendencies  in  the  criminal  and  cure  disease 
and  insanity.  They  know  that  the  highest 
vibration  of  sound  is  color.  The  writer  has 
seen  them  prove  that  much. 

One  of  their  traditions  recites  that  a  timely 
use  of  the  rain  Raga  sung  by  a  woman  once 
saved  Bengal  from  drought,  and  that  as  far 
as  the  vibration  of  her  voice  reached  rain 
fell.  That  story  is  still  told  with  the  utmost 
gravity,  and  millions  of  Hindus  believe  it. 

All  the  Ragas  are  short,  but  varied  by 
repetition  and  change  of  time.  Many  of 
their  songs  are  in  the  minor,  and  sound  like 
a  wailing  lamentation.  Others  are  sugges- 
tive of  Rondos,  Fugues  and  Nocturnes. 

The  music  of  the  northern  provinces 
differs  somewhat  from  that  of  the  south. 
The  northern  music  is  more  martial,  and 
they  have  much  of  folk-lore  in  their  poetry. 


84  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

In  the  south  the  music  is  still  closely  associ- 
ated with  religion. 

The  Marga  Sangita  is  the  highest  order 
of  Indian  music,  being  of  (supposedly) 
sacred  origin,  and  as  such  is  everywhere  re- 
ceived with  homage  and  veneration. 

The  Hindus  teach  that  music  evolved 
from  nada,  meaning  sound,  and  that  nada, 
or  sound,  had  its  origin  in  akasa,  an  ethereal 
vibration  which  pervades  the  whole  universe, 
symbolizing  the  higher  or  spiritual  side  of 
nature.  They  speak  of  musical  voices  as 
waves  of  color,  and  teach  that  music  is  a 
vibratory  language  of  the  universe,  the 
mirror  of  melodies,  the  sea  of  emotions,  etc. 
They  have  an  interesting  comparative  table 
of  vibrations  in  the  musical  color  scale,  and 
teach  that  a  proper  use  of  meter  in  poetry 
and  rhythm  in  music  not  only  enchants  the 
hearing,  but  should  appeal  to  the  judgment 
and  emotions. 

Much  of  the  history  of  India,  musical  and 
otherwise,  has  been  taught  and  handed  down 
from  one  generation  to  another  in  the  two 
monumental  Vedic  poems  called  *'The  Ma- 
habharatta"  and  ''The  Ramayana.'' 

The  drama  of  India  is  of  very  ancient 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  85 

date.  Long  before  Europe  had  evolved  any 
dramatic  literature,  that  of  India  had  passed 
its  zenith. 

In  the  Indian  temples  girls  are  still  trained 
in  rhythmic  movements  and  gestures  of  ex- 
pression, said  to  be  in  vibration  with  the 
planetary  music  of  the  spheres.  These  girls 
take  part  in  the  temple  services,  and  earn 
money  for  the  temples  in  entertainments  for 
the  rich,  posturing  as  Nautch  girls,  etc. 

In  the  museums  and  temples  one  finds  an 
infinite  variety  of  stringed  instruments.  The 
lower  castes  content  and  amuse  themselves 
with  trumpets,  drums,  horns,  conch  shells, 
tamboras,  fiddles  with  two  strings,  and  other 
stringed  instruments  made  by  stretching 
strings  over  dried  gourds  or  cocoanut  shells. 
The  shofar  has  always  been  known  in 
India. 

To  Beethoven,  the  tone  master  of  the  mod- 
ern world,  the  music  of  the  Orient  was  full 
of  beautiful  symbolism  and  rarest  inspira- 
tion. Upon  his  writing  table  it  is  said  he 
kept  a  framed  inscription  from  the  Egyptian 
Temple  of  Sais,  which  read :  "I  am  that  was, 
that  is,  that  will  be.  No  mortal  has  lifted  my 
veil/'    Wagner  also  is  said  to  have  made  a 


86  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

close  study  of  Oriental  and  Grecian  music. 
There  is  much  of  the  mythological  in  his 
best  compositions. 

Every  Hindu  woman  is  fond  of  quoting 
from  the  Mahabharatta  that  exquisite  history 
of  the  conjugal  devotion  of  the  chaste  heroine 
Sita,  whose  love  for  her  husband  induced 
her  to  follow  him  into  the  forests  and 
jungles,  to  which  he  was  banished  for  an 
exile  of  fourteen  years. 

The  story  of  her  pleading  to  be  permitted 
to  follow  him  is  sublime  in  its  wifely  de- 
votion and  self-sacrifice.  ^ 

Sanscrit  poetry  is  so  full  of  dignity  and 
subtle  meanings  that  any  English  translation 
robs  it  of  much  of  its  charm.  Sita  said  in 
part: 

A  wife  must  share  her  husband's  fate; 

My  duty  is  to  follow  thee 

Wheresoe'er  thou  goest. 

Apart  from  thee  I  should  not  wish  to  dwell 

in  heaven  itself. 
Thou  art  my  king,  my  guide,  my  only  refuge, 

my  divinity; 
It  is  my  fixed  resolve  to  follow  thee 
If  thou  must  wander  forth  through  thorny, 

trackless  forests. 
I  will  go  before  thee,  treading  down 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  87 

The  prickly  brambles  to  make  smooth  thy 

path ; 
Walking  before  thee  I  shall  feel  no  weariness. 
The  forest  thorn  will  seem  like  silken  robe, 
Roaming  with  thee  in  desert  wastes. 
A  thousand  years  will  be  a  day 
Dwelling  with  thee;  e'en  hell  itself 
Would  be  a  realm  of  bliss. 


LESSON    10 

RHYTHM  AND  CONTROLLED 
BREATH  THE  BASIC  PRIN- 
CIPLE OF  MUSCULAR 
EXERCISE 

No  physical  culture  exercise  that  has  been, 
or  ever  will  be  invented,  can  be  a  substitute 
for  controlled  breathing.  There  can  be  no 
lasting  benefit  from  muscular  exercise  un- 
less combined  with  a  knowledge  of  rhythmic 
breath,  energizing  and  relaxing.  Exercise 
should  be  daily,  hut  brief.  Then,  because  of 
brevity,  there  will  at  all  times  be  left  to  the 
student  a  sense  of  exhilaration  and  renewed 
energy  instead  of  fatigue.  Breath  is  the 
basic  principle  of  all  physical  energy,  and  the 
only  exercise  which  naturally  and  subcon- 
sciously involves  the  whole  bpdy.  Among 
the  first  lessons  given  to  children  of  the 
Orient  is  that  of  cultivating  the  control  of 
muscular  effort  by  breath.  Fortunately  for 
the  rising  generation  of  the  United  States, 
some  of  the  most  brilliant  writers  and  teach- 
ers of  the  present  day  are  devoting  much 


Hold  elbow  in  this  position,  control  breath,  and  sway 
body  in  all  directions,  with  alternate  arms  and  then  both 
elbows  raised,  excellent  for  graceful  contours. 


Note  the  marvelous  provision  of  Nature  in  the  attach- 
ment of  the  ribs  to  the  breast-bone,  each  with  its  own  httle 
strip  of  cartilage,  to  admit  of  expansion  when  lungs  in- 
flate. Note  also  how  easily  the  lower  ribs  may  be  perma- 
nently injured  in  the  young  girl  by  tight-lacing. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  89 

earnest  effort  to  the  need  of  better  lung  de- 
velopment for  children,  and  to  this  end  are 
advocating  the  importance  of  play  in  school 
hours  and  games  and  sports  for  outdoor 
pastimes. 

'Tis  sad,  alas!  that  thousands  of  children 
in  overcrowded  cities  hardly  know  the  mean- 
ing of  play,  or  the  sight  of  green  fields,  wild 
flowers  and  blue  skies. 

All  children  should  be  taught  games  that 
involve  some  reaching  exercises — to  reach 
high  for  an  imaginary  trifle,  first  with  one 
arm,  then  with  the  other,  then  with  both.  If 
this  exercise  is  done  on  a  controlled,  gentle 
breath  (the  breath  to  be  controlled  rather 
than  held)  it  involves  far  more  possibilities 
for  better  lung  development  than  violent 
muscular  chest  expansion.  All  young  chil- 
dren and  young  animals  stretch  their  muscles 
as  soon  as  they  are  awakened  from  sleep. 
This  is  a  good  exercise  to  keep  up  in  adult 
life. 

Slow  movements  under  high  nerve  tension 
while  controlling,  not  holding,  the  breath, 
with  diaphragm  not  drawn  up,  but  allowed 
to  take  its  normal  position  and  dip  rhyth- 
mically with  every  breath,  will  expand  with- 


90  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

out  muscular  effort  all  the  chest  diameters 
simultaneously.  It  is  not  natural  for  the 
chest  walls  to  flatten  or  collapse  after  exhala- 
tion. The  diaphragm  is  Natvtre's  rheostat. 
As  designed  by  Nature,  its  normal  rhythm 
covers  a  double  function — that  of  aiding  the 
respiratory  muscles  and  at  the  same  time 
vibrating  the  contents  of  the  abdominal 
cavity. 

The  breathing  gymnastic  exercises  some- 
times advocated  of  drawing  in  and  upward 
the  abdominal  walls  is  reversing  Nature's 
method  and  quite  injurious  if  long  continued. 
All  voluntary  abdominal  muscular  move- 
ment is  contrary  to  Natvire;  short,  jerky 
movements  of  any  part  of  the  body  involve 
a  useless  expenditure  of  nerve  energy.  Vio- 
lent effort  in  muscular  exercise  is  no  more 
necessary  in  man  than  it  is  in  the  lower 
animals,  who  in  their  wild  state  spend  a  great 
deal  of  their  time  in  stretching  and  relaxing 
their  muscles,  making  only  continuous  effort 
when  necessary  to  hunt  food,  fight  their  foes 
or  escape  danger,  and  yet  among  wild 
animals,  physical  efficiency  is  the  rule  rather 
than  the  exception.  Every  one  should  culti- 
vate the  art,  of  avoiding  friction  by  moving 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  91 

along  the  lines  of  least  resistance.  Take 
time  to  stretch  the  arms  and  limbs.  Stretch 
on  a  full  breath.  Then  gently  change  on  a 
controlled  breath  the  residual  air  of  the 
lungs.  Stand  by  the  open  window  for  this, 
inhale  and  exhale  a  few  times  slozvly,  giving 
the  nostrils  time  to  zvarm  the  fresh  air  on 
its  way  to  the  lungs.  Alternate  the  nostrils 
in  the  first  breathing  exercises  of  the  early 
morning,  not  because  it  is  an  occult  or 
''Yogi"  method,  but  because  it  is  the  best 
way  of  energizing  the  nasal  chamber,  res- 
piratory tract,  and  arousing  circulation  of 
the  blood  stream.  Catarrh  and  ordinary 
colds  are  almost  impossible  among  those  who 
take  the  time  and  trouble  to  breathe  cor- 
rectly and  energize  the  nasal  passages  daily. 
Exercise  through  rhythmic  breath  control 
has  a  marvelous  effect  in  the  prevention  of 
disease  and  its  cure;  additional  oxygen  in  the 
blood  increases  the  metabolism  of  the  cellu- 
lar construction  of  the  body,  renews  the 
activities  of  the  process  of  elimination  and 
harmonizes  the  disturbances  that  nerve 
centers  always  exhibit  when  breathing  is 
shallow  and  the  circulation  sluggish  or  im- 
paired. 


92  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

See  cut  of  standing  in  correct  position. 

In  the  physical  development  of  children 
correct  standing,  sitting  and  walking  are  im- 
portant factors.  All  mouth  breathing  chil- 
dren stand  and  walk  incorrectly. 

In  rhythmic  breath,  when  not  supplanted 
by  artificial  methods,  but  allowed  to  work  as 
Nature  designed  it,  we  have  a  vital  principle 
which  governs  automatically  all  the  activities 
of  the  body.  Bulgy  biceps  and  over- 
developed chest  are  often  acquired  at  the  ex- 
pense of  permanent  health.  Many  athletes 
die  young. 

Rhythm  is  a  natural  law.  * 

It  is  the  law  of  expansion  and  contraction, 
which  controls  the  universe  and  all  that 
therein  is. 

Laboring  men  who  swing  heavy  imple- 
ments and  sailors  who  pull  together  on  heavy 
ropes  fall  naturally  into  rhythm,  using  the 
full  breath  for  the  moment  of  supreme  effort, 
then  relaxing  for  the  next  full  breath. 

The  Japanese  understand  the  power  of  the 
full  breath  in  their  wonderful  feats  of 
wrestling  and  lifting  heavy  weights. 

The  bearers  or  men  who  carry  human 
freight  in  canvas  chairs  up  the  slopes  of  the 


»^^-- 

1^  »«^' 

',  ^-JF 

^m  '     ^iS^^^H 

W^       •  '^p|:  1;., 

r    -^   ^1 

■i 

^m 

*p^^b| 

^Itaiii^tak         .tail 

-      ^Vk                  'W^^^^^^'' 

^* 

H' 

Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  93 

Himalayan  Mountains  all  walk  or  run  in 
rhythm,  chanting  little  rhymes  as  they  run, 
improvising  as  they  sing  them  little  com- 
mentaries on  their  burdens,  often  none  too 
complimentary. 

RHYTHM 

From  the  tiniest  atom  to  the  greatest, 
everything  is  in  a  state  of  rhythm  or  vibra- 
tion. Natural  rhythm  keeps  the  molecules 
of  the  body  in  constant  vibration.  Rhythm 
pervades  the  universe,  the  swing  of  the 
planets  around  the  sun,  the  rise  and  fall  of 
the  tides.  Rhythm  is  a  fundamental  prin- 
ciple in  human  life.  There  is  rhythm  in  the 
measured  pulsation  of  the  human  heart.  All 
motion  is  a  manifestation  of  the  law  of 
rhythm.  It  has  been  said  that  the  repetition 
of  a  rhythmic  note  on  a  violin  will  start 
vibrations  that  would  in  time  break  down  a 
bridge.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  when  regi- 
ments of  soldiers  cross  bridges  the  order  is 
always  given  to  break  step,  lest  the  rhythm 
of  marching  may  bring  about  some  injury 
to  the  structure. 

Rhythm  is  the  fundamental  principle  of 
dancing,  although  dancing  is  the  most  prim- 


94  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

itive  of  all  the  arts.  Even  the  rudest  sav- 
ages practice  it,  making  it  a  part  of  their 
religious  observances  in  tribal  festivals.  The 
seasons  of  the  year,  the  harvests,  births, 
deaths  and  marriages,  every  event  of  tribal 
importance  is  celebrated  by  dancing.  Re- 
cently in  one  of  the  Samoan  Islands  (not  yet 
civilized)  the  writer  saw  a  number  of  women 
do  a  muscle  dance  while  sitting  down,  the 
men  of  the  tribe  making  music  or  rhythm  by 
beating  time  with  their  hands. 

There  are  records  of  dancing  two  thou- 
sand years  B.  C,  and  it  is  commonly  sup- 
posed that  the  art  originated  in  ancient 
Egypt.  In  India,  posturing  and  expressive 
gesture,  which  governs  all  the  movements  of 
the  body,  is  the  main  feature  of  the  dance  of 
the  Nautch  girls. 

Dancing  should  be  taught  to  all  children, 
especially  the  poetry  of  motion  and  control 
of  muscles  involved  in  slow  posturing.  The 
stealthy  movements  of  the  shadow  dance 
calls  for  the  most  perfect  control  of  the 
muscles.  It  is  best  to  practice  in  front  of  a 
mirror  as  an  incentive  to  graceful  poise  and 
perseverance. 

A  few  gymnastic  appliances  are  helpful, 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  95 

though  not  necessary,  in  contour  building, 
such  as  a  punching  bag  for  outdoor  use,  a 
bar  and  ropes  to  skip  or  pull  upon.  Games 
of  fencing,  tennis,  etc.,  are  excellent  for  re- 
ducing adipose  and  restoring  youthful  con- 
tours in  either  sex.  After  exercises  that  in- 
duce perspiration,  a  shower  bath  is  of  infinite 
value.  For  those  who  have  no  shower,  a 
rubber  tube  and  spray  attached  to  the  bath 
faucet  or  even  a  garden  watering  pot  with 
spray  will  answer  just  as  well,  hvit,  while  the 
body  is  still  moist  with  perspiration  it  is  quite 
injurioits  to  spray  with  cold  water.  One 
should  begin  the  spray  with  quite  hot  water, 
gradually  cooling  until  nearly  or  quite  cold. 
Rubbing  dry  with  a  coarse  towel  helps  to 
bring  about  a  splendid  reaction. 

Children  cannot  grow  up  without  physical 
ailments,  and  defective  contours,  unless 
taught  to  carry  themselves  properly  during 
the  growing  period.  Parents  and  teachers 
do  not  realize  that  good  health  and  a  fine 
physique  is  of  far  more  importance  than  high 
markings  in  school  studies.  When  children 
breathe  correctly,  it  will  no  longer  be  neces- 
sary to  constantly  remind  them  to  keep  the 
shoulders  back.     The  muscles  of  the  torso 


96  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

become  so  strong  through  automatic  rhythm 
of  correct  breathing  that  the  chest  walls  take 
care  of  themselves.  When  the  school  term 
opened  in  this  country  for  1908,  the  number 
of  defective  breathers  among  children  of  all 
grades  was  simply  appalling. 

Children  will  get  a  high  chest  develop- 
ment more  easily  if  they  are  taught  to  do 
blowing  exercises  while  lying  flat  upon  their 
backs.  This  teaches  an  easy  control  of 
breath.  Even  an  adult  who  has  apparently 
finished  his  growth  can  add  a  two-  or  three- 
inch  permanent  expansion  to  a  flat  chest 
within  three  months*  time  if  he  will  practice 
a  controlled  breath  while  in  the  recumbent 
position  for  not  more  than  ten  minutes  every 
day. 

Apart  from  permanent  results  for  chest 
expansion,  the  controlled  breath  has  a  won- 
derfully revitalizing  effect  on  the  system.  In 
this  system  of  health  exercises  one  must 
learn  to  ''hasten  slozvly."  To  get  best  results 
it  is  necessary  that  all  movements  should  be 
very  slow  and  on  the  breath.  (Controlling 
is  not  the  act  of  holding  the  breath.) 

While  exercising,  hold  every  muscle  at  its 
highest  tension.    Consciously  energizing  the 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  97 

muscles  and  rousing  the  circulation  will  put 
more  vim  and  health  into  persons  of  seden- 
tary occupation  than  the  most  vigorous  gym- 
nastics or  horseback  exercises.  Not  every 
one  owns  a  horse,  or  knows  how  to  ride. 
Avoid  over-fatigue;  relax  often.  Rightly 
done  through  control  of  breath,  relaxation 
enables  one  to  unlock  all  the  muscular 
tension  of  the  whole  system.  Over-fatigue 
obscures  even  the  most  charming  person- 
ality. To  be  well  fed  it  is  not  necessary  to 
be  overfed.  Constipation  is  greatly  aided 
by  hulk  in  food — "roughage"  it  has  been 
called  by  a  great  thinker.  There  is  a  breath 
exercise  done  in  the  recumbent  position  very 
like  the  panting  of  a  dog  that  is  especially 
useful  in  overcoming  constipation. 

A  few  simple  exercises  for  strengthening 
the  muscles  of  the  eyes  may  not  be  out  of 
place  here.  Eyes  have  to  adapt  themselves 
to  distances,  and  every  time  the  eye  turns 
in  any  direction  it  is  controlled  by  muscles 
that  perform  all  the  mechanical  part  of  turn- 
ing the  eyeball. 

To  strengthen  the  muscles  of  the  eye,  hold 
any  small  object  or  a  pencil  between  the 
fingers.    Extend  the  arm  straight  out  as  far 


98  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

as  possible,  keeping  the  gaze  riveted  on  the 
object.  Bring  the  arm  in  gradually  without 
removing  the  sight  from  the  object  until 
within  six  inches  of  the  eyes.  Repeat  several 
times.  Carry  up  and  down  and  from  side  to 
side,  always  keeping  the  eyes  firmly  fixed  on 
the  object  that  is  being  moved. 

Stand  or  sit  with  the  neck  muscles  per- 
fectly passive,  the  head  in  one  position; 
slowly  roll  the  eyes  upward  and  downward 
and  sideways  without  moving  the  head. 
Then  keep  the  eyes  on  one  object  and  slowly 
turn  the  head  from  side  to  side  and  up  and 
down.  This  will  be  found  to  strengthen  the 
eye  muscles  very  materially. 

The  eyes  should  always  be  bathed  at  bed- 
time with  warm  water,  and  in  wiping  them 
rub  toward  the  nose.  The  eyes  should  not 
be  used  for  close  work  when  the  body  is 
fatigued,  and  when  using  the  eyes  in  a  strong 
light  the  light  should  come  from  behind. 

For  those  out  of  health  many  resistance 
exercises  can  be  accomplished  in  bed  while 
controlling  breath. 


LESSON  11 

CONTOUR  CULTURE— CONCENTRA- 
TION AND  RELAXATION 

Just  as  sunlight  is  inseparable  from  color, 
so  is  beauty  of  expression  and  contour  of 
form  the  most  subtle  manifestation  of  per- 
fect physical  and  mental  equipose. 

Many  women  are  imbued  with  the  idea 
that  deep  breathing  means  a  large  waist, 
sloppy  figure,  low-heeled  shoes  and  no  cor- 
sets. We  do  not  advocate  low-heeled  shoes 
for  feet  that  are  naturally  arched,  and  we 
believe  a  well-fitting  corset  to  be  an  improve- 
ment rather  than  a  detriment  to  the  form  of 
a  grown  woman.  In  this  day  and  age  har- 
mony of  outlines  in  both  sexes  makes  for  suc- 
cess in  the  business  and  professional  world 
and  counts  for  much  in  all  ranks  of  life. 
Just  so  soon  as  a  woman  allows  her  muscles 
to  relax  and  fat  to  accumulate  she  is  qualify- 
ing for  the  Mother  Hubbard  style  of  dress- 
ing, of  all  costumes  and  of  all  ages  the  least 
attractive. 

Of    course,    women    who    wear    corsets 


K.  ■ 

100         .^hyt^mic  Breathing  plus 


.^"^ 


sholBd  j^e  it  to  themselves  to  wear  only 
^os^that  fit  well  and  be  careful  to  allow 
sulficient  room  at  the  belt  line  for  proper 
•expansion  and  balance  of  the  body,  but  aside 
from  any  support,  real  or  imaginary,  the 
corset  may  be,  the  chest  should  never  be 
allowed  to  flatten  or  sink  downward,  as  that 
position  at  once  crowds  every  internal  organ 
out  of  position  and  throws  the  whole  body 
out  of  proper  contour. 

Rhythmic  breathing  compels  the  chest  to 
remain  high,  and  the  ribs  to  remain  ex- 
panded through  the  full  and  automatic  infla- 
tion of  the  lungs.  A  strong  muscular  devel- 
opment of  the  torso  is  the  first  development 
of  rhythmic  breath.  The  illustration  accom- 
panying this  chapter  shows  the  right  and 
wrong  method  of  standing  and  the  effect  the 
downward  droop  of  chest  has  upon  the  con- 
tour of  the  body,  apart  from  its  interference 
with  the  circulation  and  the  cutting  off  of  its 
natural  supply  of  oxygen.  Among  the  les- 
sons at  the  end  of  this  book  readers  will  find 
some  scientific  but  simple,  practical  and  non- 
fatiguing  exercises  for  reducing  the  waist 
line  if  it  averages  too  many  inches  for  iype, 
age  and  height. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         101 

A  thick  waist  in  either  sex  is  invariably 
caused  by  accumulation  of  adipose  in  the 
form  of  stored-away  carbon,  of  which  fat 
is  about  75  per  cent. 

Muscles  loaded  down  with  superfluous  fat 
soon  lose  their  suppleness  and  graceful  con- 
tour. Superfluous  flesh  has  been  rightly 
called  ''obscurity,"  obscuring  as  it  does  in  the 
abnormally  stout  person  all  the  original  out- 
lines. 

Pressure  caused  by  fatty  deposits  on  capil- 
laries, veins  and  arteries  is  often  the  cause 
of  poor  circulation. 

Heart  disease  is  frequently  merely  a  symp- 
tom expressing  the  incapacity  of  the  circu- 
lation to  force  its  life  fluid  into  veins  and 
arteries  that  are  reduced  in  size  from  ex- 
ternal pressure. 

Any  dress  or  corset  that  allows  the  abdo- 
men to  press  downward  and  outward  in  sit- 
ting and  standing  is  wrongly  made.  It  pre- 
vents the  proper  rhythm  of  the  diaphragm, 
interferes  with  the  digestion  and  imperils  the 
health.  We  would  suggest  that  students  re- 
duce the  waist  line  (where  desirable)  by 
proper  exercises  instead  of  tight  lacing.  Any 
bandage  or  lacing  that  tightens  the  garments 


102         Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

at  the  pit  of  the  stomach  show  a  lack  of  com- 
mon sense;  how  few  of  us  stop  to  realize 
that  just  back  of  the  waist  line  lies  the  solar 
plexus,  the  sun  center,  an  important  nerve 
plexus  that  is  beginning  to  be  recognized  as 
the  abdominal  brain,  because  of  its  marvel- 
ously  important  function  and  its  relation  to 
the  sympathetic  nervous  system.  A  very  few 
minutes  every  morning  and  evening  devoted 
to  rhythmic  contour  culture  would  soon 
establish  the  habit  that  would  make  for 
health  and  beauty. 

Thanks  to  the  microscope,  we  know  accu- 
rately now  that  the  whole  process  of  life  in 
body  building  is  cellular.  By  intelligent  care 
of  the  ''house  we  live  in"  we  can  aid  and  even 
direct  and  govern  the  constructive  process  of 
renewing  vital  energy. 

Many  of  the  ailments  so  common  in  school 
children  are  due  to  defective  breathing. 

Mal-nutrition  (where  children  have 
enough  of  suitable  food  to  eat)  is  invariably 
caused  by  defective  respiration  and,  alas! 
sad  but  true,  in  the  most  magnificently 
equipped  schools  in  the  world — those  of  the 
United  States — there  can  be  found  millions 
of  shallow  or  defective  breathing  children 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         103 

suffering  untold  misery,  many  of  them  from 
diseases  caused  entirely  from  lack  of  knowl- 
edge on  the  part  of  their  parents  and  teachers 
of  the  natural  law  of  breathing  with  which 
Nature  endowed  every  child,  whether  born 
prince  or  pauper,  and  which  should  have  been 
kept  up  in  nurseries  and  kindergartens. 

Many  people  fuss  and  worry  about  in- 
crease of  weight,  and  do  little  else  to  prevent 
it.  One  of  the  best  possible  exercises  for 
rapidly  reducing  an  abnormal  waist  line  is 
this :  Poise  lightly  on  balls  of  feet,  with  men- 
tal impulse  of  starting  to  run  or  skate,  arms 
hanging  loosely,  chest  up,  chin  drawn  back. 
Then  walk  lightly  about  the  room,  drawing 
each  knee  alternately  up  to  the  waist  line, 
holding  it  there  with  clasped  hands  as  long 
as  one  breath  can  be  comfortably  sustained 
without  chest  effort.  Do  this  for  ten  min- 
utes while  undressed  night  and  morning. 
See  illustration. 

Another  equally  useful  exercise  for  reduc- 
ing waist  line:  Stand  firmly  on  feet,  bend 
body  from  the  hips  and  sway  in  every  direc- 
tion without  losing  balance.    See  illustration. 

According  to  the  perfect  figure  of  woman, 
the  breadth  of  measurement  of  shoulders 


104  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

and  hips  should  be  exactly  the  same.  The 
waist  ten  inches  less. 

In  the  Orient  every  one  is  taught  to  be  re- 
spectful to  even  the  most  loathsomely  dis- 
eased, in  recognition  of  the  God-atom  in  man 
— the  vital  spark — which  constitutes  human 
life.  The  mystery  of  life  is  an  all-absorbing 
one.  Students  of  this  system  should  watch 
the  various  functions  of  their  own  bodies. 
Note  what  happens  to  the  circulation,  nerves 
and  muscles  when  certain  movements  are 
brought  into  play.  Study  temperament,  indi- 
viduality, and  build  up  to  its  highest  expres- 
sion of  vital  kinship  with  the  universe. 

People  out  of  health  and  those  desiring  to 
conserve  their  vital  energy  should  retire 
early,  and  leave  their  beds  not  later  than 
seven  in  the  morning.  Those  who  sleep  late 
in  the  morning  lack  nervous  energy.  Daily 
attention  to  the  hygiene  of  the  skin  is  an  ex- 
ercise of  vital  importance.  Auto-Massage  is 
more  beneficial  than  mechanical  or  that  done 
by  another  person.  Always  massage  the  skin 
of  the  whole  body  with  cocoa  butter  or  oil  be- 
fore bathing.  This  gives  nutrition  as  well 
as  stimulation  to  all  the  nerve  terminals, 
tissues  and  blood  vessels  in  and  beneath  the 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         105 

skin  and  keeps  alert,  the  myriad  avenues  of 
intercommunication  between  the  skin  and 
other  functions  of  the  body. 

CONCENTRATION  AND  RELAXATION 

In  the  Orient  there  is  only  one  meaning  for 
the  term  "concentration,"  which  is,  that  con- 
centration becomes  realization  through  rep- 
etition. 

In  India  it  is  still  customary  for  the 
Master  to  impart  knowledge  to  the  student 
in  parables,  and  to  explain  the  meaning  of 
concentration  the  following  parable  was  told 
to  the  author. 

"It  is  common  in  India  when  men  desire 
to  join  a  brotherhood  for  retreat  from  the 
world  and  the  cultivation  of  the  religious 
side  of  their  nature  to  be  accepted  on  a  three 
years'  probation.  Education  and  caste  is  of 
no  importance.  If  a  man  has  worldly  goods 
he  usually  makes  a  gift  to  the  temple  on  his 
admission  to  the  brotherhood.  On  this 
occasion  the  man  was  of  the  agricultural 
class,  alone  in  the  world,  nothing  left  of 
worldly  possessions  excepting  an  old  cow, 
which  he  took  with  him  as  his  gift  to  the 
temple.    The  day  after  arrival,  his  Master 


106  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

asked  him  if  he  knew  the  meaning  of  con- 
centration. He  replied,  1  am  illiterate,  and 
the  word  has  no  meaning  for  me/  Then 
said  the  Master,  'Have  you  no  ideal,  no  high 
attribute,  upon  which  you  could  concen- 
trate?' The  man  replied,  T  know  so  little  of 
these  higher  things,  but  I  know  a  great  deal 
about  my  old  cow/  Then  said  the  Master, 
'How  much  do  you  know  about  your  old 
cow  ?'  Said  the  man,  T  raised  that  cow  from 
a  Httle  calf.  /  know  all  there  is  to  know 
about  that  old  cow.'  'Very  well,'  said  the 
Master,  'tell  me  what  you  know  of  the  cow.' 
The  man  replied,  'The  cow  has  a  body,  four 
legs,  four  feet,  a  head  and  a  tail ;  it  has  two 
horns,  two  ears,  two  eyes,  four  eyelids,  two 
nostrils,  a  mouth,  two  lips,  a  tongue  and  so 
many  teeth.  Its  weight  is  about  so  much, 
and  its  color  is  brown  with  white  spots.' 
'Well,'  said  the  Master,  'so  far,  so  good,  as 
regards  general  appearance.  Now  for  de- 
tail. How  many  lashes  upon  one  eyelid  has 
the  cow?'  Ans.,  'I  don't  know.'  'What 
is  the  exact  color  of  its  eyes?'  Ans.,  'I 
don't  know.'  'How  many  hairs  upon  the  tip 
of  one  ear?'  Reply,  'I  don't  know.'  'How 
many  hairs  upon  the  extreme  end  of  its  tail  ?' 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         107 

Reply,  1  don't  know.'  The  relative  size  of 
the  white  and  brown  spots  of  its  hide  T  Re- 
ply, 1  don't  know/  And  for  every  question 
that  the  man  could  answer  there  were  a  hun- 
dred that  he  could  not.  'Very  well,  then,'  said 
the  Master,  *you  may  take  your  cow  as  a  sub- 
ject for  concentration,'  which  the  man  did. 

"For  many  moons  the  man  kept  up, 
through  concentration,  his  daily  study  of  the 
cow,  until  one  day,  when  the  Master  came 
to  visit  his  cell,  realization  had  awakened, 
and  the  man  knew  all  about  the  cow. 

"  'Now,'  said  the  Master,  'through  repeti- 
tion, concentrationhas become  realization,  and 
you  may  leave  your  cell.'  'But,'  said  the  man, 
'I  cannot  get  out.    I  have  become  the  cow.'  " 

This  story  is  not  to  be  understood  from  a 
literal  standpoint,  but  the  moral  intended  to 
be  conveyed,  is,  that  we  chose  our  own  plane 
for  concentration,  and  if,  through  repetition, 
we  remain  on  that  plane  long  enough,  we 
shall  come  into  realization  of  whatever  we 
concentrate  upon. 

Because  the  man  in  the  story  had  no 
higher  ideal  than  the  cow,  he  remained  on 
the  animal  plane.  The  story  also  conveys  the 
lesson  that  true  knowledge  is  not  superficial. 


108  Rhythmic  Breathing  phis 

Relaxation,  as  understood  in  the  Orient, 
is  a  question  of  controlled  breathing.  It  can 
only  be  done  in  the  recumbent  position.  This 
is  so  common  in  the  Orient  that  on  long 
marches  soldiers  relax  instead  of  sleep.  The 
nearest  approach  to  real  rest  is  to  lie  flat  upon 
the  back,  on  the  floor  or  other  unyielding 
surface,  and  breathe  rhythmically  (remem- 
ber, rhythm  is  equal  motion),  the  exhalation 
must  be  controlled  and  be  equal  in  time  to 
the  inhalation.  Spread  arms  and  legs  to  a 
comfortable  angle,  and  turn  the  head  to  one 
side  to  relieve  tension  on  neck  muscles.  (The 
easy  angles  of  arms  and  legs  take  tension 
off  the  bone  sockets.)  Hold  pleasant 
thoughts  while  resting  rather  than  the  strain 
of  counting  breaths.  On  the  subject  of  con- 
scious relaxation  as  a  substitute  for  hypno- 
sis, the  writer  invites  correspondence  from 
physicians,  ministers,  and  others  who  prac- 
tice suggestive  therapeutics,  and  refers  them 
to  a  lesson-brochure  on  the  subject  called 
"Conscious  Relaxation  an  Effectual  Substi- 
tute for  Hypnosis  in  Psycho-Therapy" — 
supplementary  to  "A  Method  for  the  Mil- 
lions." (Direct  from  Publisher,  R.  B.  Noble, 
Huntington  Chambers,  Boston,  Mass.) 


LESSON    12 
FIRST  AID  TO  LONGEVITY 

Men  and  women  age  fast  when  they  sub- 
mit to  monotony.  At  middle  age  both  men 
and  women  should  forget  their  birthdays 
and  in  the  joy  of  wholly  living  play  the  great 
game  of  life  as  if  they  were  winning  every 
move. 

Growing  old  is  symbolic  of  decay,  and  its 
ugliness  is  largely  induced  by  auto-sugges- 
tion. Among  the  lower  animals  it  is  difficult, 
excepting  by  close  observation,  to  distinguish 
the  old  from  the  young. 

In  the  marvelous  economy  of  Nature's 
great  laws  the  physiological  condition  of 
human  life  has  three  important  periods.  The 
youth,  or  glorious  morning  of  life;  the  high 
noon,  or  full  maturity  of  life  in  both  sexes ; 
and  the  afternoon,  which  fades  slowly  but 
surely  into  eventide. 

In  the  afternoon  of  life  Nature  has  reached 
and  passed  its  climacteric,  a  period  when 
some  of  Nature's  most  potent  forces  have 
come  to  a  full  stop  and  must  submit  to  a  re- 


110  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

distribution  of  electro-chemic  energy — a 
marvelous  readjustment  of  physical  condi- 
tions in  both  sexes. 

At  this  period,  with  proper  care  of  the* 
body,  it  is  possible  to  develop  latent  qualities 
that  by  recognition  and  cultivation  would 
make  the  afternoon  of  life  one  long  Indian 
summer. 

At  this  important  cross-road  of  life  men 
and  women  should  make  every  effort  to  con- 
serve instead  of  scatter  life's  energies.  In 
the  afternoon  of  life  it  is  easy  by  a  close 
attention  to  the  laws  of  health  and  hygiene 
to  ripen  slowly  and  not  to  arrive  at  the  full 
realization  of  latent  power  and  talent  until 
quite  late  in  life. 

Goldsmith's  ''History  of  England"  says 
Plutarch  left  on  record,  that  the  ancient 
Britons  only  began  to  grow  old  when  they 
had  passed  the  century  mark,  because  of 
their  strict  adherence  to  the  laws  of  temper- 
ance in  all  things.  To-day,  in  Southern 
India,  among  the  high  castes  (who  eat  only 
twice  a  day)  it  is  not  unusual  to  find  four 
or  five  generations  under  one  roof !  Among 
the  nations  that  believe  in  reincarnation 
there  is  absolutely  no  fear  of  death.     They 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         111 

rejoice  for  those  who  pass  on  early,  and 
often  await  with  pleasant  expectancy  the 
open  portal  for  themselves. 

Not  so  with  the  (so-called)  civilized  races, 
with  whom  the  very  name  of  death  is  associ- 
ated with  dread  and  fear.  Health  cannot 
long  be  preserved  by  the  idle,  or  those  of 
sedentary  habit  who  live  too  much  within 
the  four  walls  of  a  house  or  office.  Among 
the  Arabs  there  is  an  old  saying,  ''He  who 
builds  him  a  house  of  stone  should  at  the 
same  time  prepare  himself  a  tomb." 

At  fifty  years  of  age,  if  self-control  has 
been  established  earlier,  there  will  be  no 
shattered  nerves,  impaired  circulation,  sag- 
ging muscles  and  faltering  footsteps  and 
none  of  the  hideous  wrinkles  caused  by  pain, 
worry  and  discontent. 

We  build  our  own  individuality,  but  when 
we  permit  the  little  frictions  which  are  in- 
separable from  human  life  to  worry  and 
annov  us,  it  throws  us  off  our  mental  and 
physical  balance  and  limits  our  possibilities 
of  daily  achievement. 

It  is  well  to  cultivate  toleration  of  other 
people's  failings.  Learn  to  forget  as  well 
as  forgive,  and  hold  on  to  the  life-buoy  of 


112  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

optimism,  even  though  our  frail  bark 
swamps  in  the  turmoil  and  troubled  surf  of 
unrealized  ambitions,  and  to  begin  a  new 
struggle  with  chance,  if  necessary,  rejoicing 
in  the  fact  that  many  of  the  greatest  men 
and  women  of  all  ages  and  nationalities  have 
made  their  greatest  successes  late  in  life. 
•  There  is  no  royal  road  to  old  age,  but 
tenacity  of  life  is  greatly  aided  by  correct 
breathing  and  strict  attention  to  diet  and 
hygiene  in  youth  and  middle  age. 

No  one  can  turn  back  the  shadow  on  the 
dial  of  time,  but  it  is  possible  to  grow  old 
healthfully  and  with  some  semblance  of  our 
original  contours. 

We  select  our  food,  and  can  control  to 
some  extent  the  process  of  body  building, 
and  it  rests  largely  with  ourselves  whether 
we  permit  our  joints  to  become  deformed 
by  the  accumulation  of  uric  acid  deposits 
and  our  muscular  outlines  to  become  ob- 
scured by  superfluous  fat. 

"One-fourth  of  all  a  man  eats  sustains  him,  the  rest  he 
retains  at  his  peril." — Dr.  Abernethy. 

As  an  aid  to  longevity,  the  Orientals  have 
a  fixed  habit  of  early  rising,  and  after  bath- 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         113 

ing  and  rubbing  down  the  body  with  oil  (to 
keep  the  skin  smooth  and  joints  supple),  they 
spend  special  time  in  rhythmic  breathing  for 
the  purpose  of  energizing  the  nasal  and  res- 
piratory tract,  taking  especial  care  to  fully 
change  and  empty  the  lungs  of  residual 
air  by  gently  blowing,  and  to  recharge 
them  slowly  with  the  health-laden  oxygen 
of  the  sun-charged  early  morning  atmos- 
phere. 

The  Orientals  (better  than  other  races) 
understand  the  value  of  exposing  the  skin 
of  the  body  to  fresh  air.  They  have  always 
known  the  skin  has  an  absorbent  and  res- 
piratory function  as  well  as  the  function  of 
elimination. 

Octogenarians  of  the  Orient  could  easily 
pass  for  men  of  fifty  years,  and  careful  in- 
vestigation has  proved  that  they  rarely  ex- 
hibit in  middle  life  any  symptom  of  sclerosis 
of  the  arteries,  so  common  in  men  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere,  where  normal  breath- 
ing has  become  a  lost  art,  and  where  physi- 
cians have  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  a 
rhythmic  use  of  the  diaphragm,  adjusts  or 
prevents  high  blood  pressure,  by  controlling 
the  circulation  of  the  blood  stream,  arousing. 


114  Rhythmic  Breathing  phis 

as  it  does,  the  electro-chemic  function  of  the 
blood  to  eliminate  the  deposits  zvhich  cause 
arterial  degeneration. 

Metchnikoff,  in  his  recent  publications,  has 
submitted  the  problems  of  life  and  death  to 
the  closest  investigation.  He  argues  that 
death  from  any  cause  aside  from  old  age  is 
accidental  rather  than  inevitable,  and  that 
senile  debility  before  extreme  old  age  is  con- 
trary to  Nature. 

El  Cornaro,  of  Padua,  an  Italian  champion 
of  old  age,  lived  to  be  one  hundred  and  two 
and  died  without  pain.  He  wrote  books  in 
his  eightieth  and  up  to  ninety-eighth  year  of 
age,  which  during  the  past  three  and  a  half 
centuries  have  been  translated  into  many 
languages.  The  following  is  an  extract 
from  one  of  his  books,  written  in  his  ninety- 
eighth  year : 

"The  sensual  are  so  entirely  devoted  to 
the  gratification  of  their  taste  and  appetite 
that  they  hold  it  is  better  to  live  through  sev- 
eral years  less,  or  even  enjoy  the  pleasures 
of  sin  for  a  season,  than  to  be  put  to  the 
torment  of  laying  a  restraint  upon  their  ap- 
petites. Foolish  men;  they  little  think  of 
what  importance  ten  years  of  life  are  to  a 
man,  more  especially  at  that  adult  period  of 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         115 

an  healthful  Hfe,  wherein  it  is  in  its  highest 
pitch  of  perfection,  and  the  understanding, 
wisdom  and  every  kind  of  virtue  are  most 
vigorous.   .    .    . 

"...  Eat  and  drink  what  is  wholesome 
and  avoid  overfeeding.  He  that  is  wise 
enough  to  observe  this  will  suffer  little  from 
other  inconveniences.  The  diseases  of  reple- 
tion infallibly  destroy  the  best  natural  ca- 
pacities." 

Among  the  prominent  women  of  the 
twentieth  century  interested  in  the  question 
of  longevity  may  be  mentioned  Mrs.  Russell 
Sage,  who  has  founded  and  endowed  an 
institute  for  the  scientific  study  and  pre- 
vention of  organic  changes  that  produce  old 
age. 

Many  of  the  best-known  men  and  women 
of  all  ages  have  done  their  best  work  after 
middle  age.  In  all  branches  of  poetry,  music, 
art,  science,  invention,  discoveries,  politics 
and  statesmanship.  Recently  one  of  the 
most  exquisite  verses  ever  inspired  by 
woman  was  written  by  a  man  no  longer 
young  in  praise  of  the  youthful  femininity 
of  a  long  past  middle-aged  actress  a  propos 
of  her  portrayal  of  a  part  in  Irving's 
Charles  L; 


116  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

''In  the  lone  tent,  waiting  for  victory, 

She  stands,  with  eyes  marred  by  the  mists  of 
pain. 

Like  some  wan  Hly  overdrenched  with  rain; 

The  clamorous  clang  of  arms,  the  ensan- 
guined sky. 

War's  ruin  and  the  wreck  of  chivalry, 

To  her  proud  soul  no  common  fear  can 
bring; 

Bravely  she  tarrieth  for  her  lord,  the  king, 

Her  soul  aflame  with  passionate  ecstasy. 

O  Hair  of  Gold !  O  Crimson  Lips !  O  Face ! 

Made  for  the  luring  and  the  love  of  man ! 

With  thee  I  do  forget  the  toil  and  stress. 

The  loveless  road  that  knows  no  resting  place. 

Time's  straitened  pulse,  the  soul's  dread 
weariness. 

My  freedom  and  my  life  republican!" 

Recently  Senator  Chauncey  Depew,  in  an 
after-dinner  speech  given  on  his  seventy- 
fourth  birthday,  said  in  part :  'The  first  six- 
teen years  of  life  is  a  formative  period,  when 
muscles  and  brawn  are  strengthened  for 
after  wear  and  tear,  and  the  mind  is  de- 
veloping careers  in  dreamland,  and  ideals  are 
vague.  The  next  sixteen  are  devoted  to 
making  a  proper  start,  and  having  placed 
our  feet  on  the  bottom  rung  of  the  ladder, 
to  demonstrate  how  far  and  how  quickly  we 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         117 

can  climb.  The  next  sixteen,  if  we  have 
made  a  mistake  and  found,  as  Lincoln  ex- 
pressed it,  'that  we  are  square  pegs  trying 
to  get  into  round  holes,'  we  go  back  and  try 
it  all  over  again,  having  lost  everything  but 
experience.  The  rest  of  life  we  are  busy 
making  provisions  for  old  age  and  securing 
our  proper  place  with  our  professions,  our 
business,  our  church  and  our  parties,  but 
when  a  man  passes  seventy  no  question  in- 
terests him  so  much  as  longevity,  and  when 
he  passes  eighty  the  subject  is  still  more  ab- 
sorbing." In  the  course  of  his  speech  Mr. 
Depew  dated  his  freedom  from  almost 
chronic  rheumatism  from  the  day  he  stopped 
eating  flesh  and  confined  himself  to  a  simple 
diet.  ''Sleep,  digestion  and  clarified  vision, 
such  as  I  had  never  known  before,  have  kept 
increasing  as  I  dismiss  flesh  and  fowl  for 
vegetables,"  he  said.  With  nine-tenths  of 
the  world  the  greatest  happiness  in  life  is  the 
table,  piled  with  the  things  one  loves  to  eat 
and  drink  and  the  pleasures  of  a  gorge. 
"But  for  that,"  the  Senator  concluded,  "the 
hospital  and  the  graveyard  would  be  largely 
out  of  business." 

A  propos  of  overeating,  Dr.  Abernethy 


118  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

said:  "There  is  no  beast  of  burden  in  the 
world  so  overloaded  as  the  human  stomach." 
As  first  aid  to  longevity  we  add  a  few  sug- 
gestions to  the  reader.  First  and  most  im- 
portant, do  not  break  up  long-established 
habits,  of  smoking,  eating,  and  drinking,  too 
abruptly.  Cultivate  moderation  in  all  things, 
but  avoid  fads.  It  is  wise  to  select  a  dietary, 
simple,  but  suited  to  our  own  individual 
needs  and  a  personal  hygiene  suited  to  indi- 
vidual temperament.  Occasional  exposure 
of  the  whole  body  to  direct  rays  of  sunlight, 
or  electric  arc-light,  is  a  stimulus  to  meta- 
bolism and  increases  resistance  to  disease. 

Alcohol  is  always  detrimental  to  the  aver- 
age power  of  digestion ;  so  also  is  very  strong 
tea  and  coffee.  The  fundamental  first  aid 
to  longevity  lies  in  keeping  up  our  birthright 
of  rhythmic  breathing,  a  physical  rhythm 
designed  by  Nature  to  keep  the  pulsation  of 
the  human  heart  in  tune  with  the  eternal  law 
of  expansion  and  contraction  that  governs 
the  universe.  There  is  a  chemistry  of  life — 
there  is  also  a  chemistry  of  death — in  the 
unchangeable  laws  of  Nature,  the  harvest 
and  the  sickle,  follow  the  seed  of  the  earth 
and  its  people. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         119 

Nothing  adds  more  zest  to  the  length  of 
days  than  a  Hvely  interest  in  affairs  outside 
our  own.  Hindu  Hterature  gives  us  a 
beautiful  story  of  a  Master  who  sent  the 
inconsolable  mother  of  a  lovely  child  (whose 
spark  of  life  had  been  suddenly  extinguished 
by  the  poisoned  fangs  of  a  snake)  to  beg 
from  her  neighbors,  a  few  grains  of  common 
seed,  but  she  must  only,  he  told  her,  accept 
the  gift  from  a  house  in  which  there  had 
been  no  death.  After  many  days  she  re- 
turned to  the  Master,  crying,  ''Alas !  I  have 
found  no  home  through  the  portal  of  whose 
porch  the  Angel  of  Death  hath  not  entered." 
Then  said  the  Master,  'Tittle  sister,  learn 
this  lesson,  your  grief  is  so  common  the 
whole  world  weeps  with  you." 

As  the  years  roll  away  from  us,  let  us 
cultivate  in  the  hush  of  our  eventide  silences, 
a  closer  communion  with  our  souls,  and 
our  responsibilities  to  our  fellow-beings — 
while  we  still  have  time  and  mundane  op- 
portunity to  help  in  the  prevention  of  the 
appalling  waste  of  life  (from  preventable 
causes)  among  the  rising  tide  of  human- 
itv,  those  still  in  their  childhood.  Let 
us  strike  the  words   "too  late"   from   our 


120  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

vocabulary.  The  time  will  come  soon 
enough,  for  most  of  us,  when  we  shall  have 
to  realize,  that  whether  it  be  this  world's 
possessions,  or  the  remembrance  of  well  do- 
ing, ''all  we  can  hold  in  our  cold,  dead  hands, 
is  what  we  have  given  away."  The  kindly 
deeds,  the  spoken  words,  have  a  longevity  all 
their  own. 

It  is  within  the  power  of  every  one  to  leave 
their  own  little  niche  in  this  world  better 
than  they  found  it,  and  to  preserve  a  serenity 
in  old  age  for  themselves,  by  keeping  the 
heart  youthful  in  its  emotions,  a  personality 
radiant  with  sincerity  of  purpose,  and  a  sym- 
pathy for  which  the  whole  world  hungers. 

''Life's   more   than   breath    and   the   quick 

round  of  blood; 
'Tis  a  great  spirit  and  a  busy  heart. 
We  live  in  deeds,  not  years ;  in  thoughts,  not 

breaths ; 
In  feelings,  not  in  figures  on  a  dial. 
We  should  count  time  by  heart-throbs.    He 

most  lives 
Who  thinks  most,  feels  the  noblest,  acts  the 

best."  — Schiller, 


HOMER 

Whose  Iliad,  though  written  looo  years  b.  c..  is  still  without 
a   peer   in   the   realm   of   epic   literature 


HOW   TO    ENERGIZE   THE   CIRCULATION    AND    FLATTEN    SHOULDER 

BLADES 

Control  breath,  slowly  extend  arms,  holding  them  tense 
until  a  warmth  is  felt  in  palms  or  tips  of  fingers. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  EXERCISES 

Dr.  Albert  J.  Atkins,  president  San 
Francisco  and  County  Society  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons,  says :  "Dr.  Emily  Noble's  lec- 
tures on  health  are  of  practical  value  to  all 
who  have  the  privilege  of  hearing  her.  .  .  . 
They  deal  with  the  life  principle  itself.  .  .  . 
Her  'Method  for  the  Millions'  should  be  in 
every  one's  hands." 

Practical  work  along  the  lines  of  correct 
deep  breathing  soon  convinces  the  most 
skeptical  that  it  is  the  only  method  that 
polarizes  the  "electro-chemic"  action  of  all 
bodily  functions. 

In  this  system  we  must  call  our  students' 
attention  to  the  three  great  points  of  differ- 
ence between  this  and  other  systems  taught 
in  the  West: 

First — This  method  must  be  diaphragm- 
atic as  well  as  thoracic,  in  order  that  the  con- 
stant rhythm  may  move  and  energize  the 
internal  organs,  unconsciously,  with  every 
breath. 

Second — A  conscious  development  of 
dynamic  energy,  which  can,  through  nerve 


122  Rhythmic  Breathing  phis 

energizing,  be  diverted  to  any  organ  or 
tissue  of  the  body  and  held  there  long  enough 
to  start  up  a  revitalizing  process. 

Third — No  muscular  effort  is  used  in  the 
exercises,  the  rhythmic  effect  of  correct 
breathing  being  controlled  while  the  nervous 
system  is  tensed  or  energized. 

A  curious  fact  existing  in  connection  with 
deep  breathing  is  that  much  more  air  can 
be  inspired  through  the  left  nostril  than  the 
right  one.  Naturally,  every  one  will  doubt 
this,  but  the  fact  can  be  verified  by  any  one 
at  any  moment,  if  they  will  take  the  recum- 
bent position,  and  first,  note  where  the  breath 
responds,  when  breathing  through  both  nos- 
trils; then  try  shutting  off  the  right  nostril, 
then  the  left,  and  it  will  be  found  there  is 
quite  a  difference  in  control  of  respiratory 
muscles.  Students  must  learn,  at  any  early 
part  of  the  lessons  to  control  the  rhythm 
long  enough  to  establish  an  interval  of  from 
ten  to  fifty  seconds  between  one  breath  and 
another.  That  generates  a  vital  force  which 
controls  the  nerves  and  prolongs  life. 
High-strung  nerves  can  always  be  quieted  by 
taking  the  recumbent  position,  on  the  floor 
or  any  unyielding  surface,  and  holding  a  few 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         123 

deep  breaths,  with  the  abdominal  and  costal 
muscles  expanded. 

This  exercise  alone  generates  vitality  and 
control  of  nerves  in  a  manner  that  no  other 
method  can  accomplish,  and  is  the  first  step 
toward  the  full  consciousness  of  health  and 
mental  and  physical  balance.  The  nervous 
system  radiates  its  energies  like  the  sun.  The 
solar  plexus  is  the  sun  center ;  the  blood  sup- 
plies the  nervous  system,  and  is  its  shadow; 
together,  they  form  positive  and  negative 
poles,  and  are  the  highest  vibration  of  elec- 
trical energy  in  this  sphere — i.e.,  human  life. 

Students  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
that  there  are  only  three  sources  of  life — 
food,  water  and  air — and  that  food  elements 
get  their  vitality  in  the  blood  from  inspired 
air. 

Students  must  he  careful  not  to  attempt 
contouring,  poise  exercises  and  nerve  ener- 
gizing until  they  have  thoroughly  mastered 
the  rhythm  of  the  abdominal  walls,  which 
must  expand  unconsciously  with  every 
breath.  In  all  positions,  either  lying  down, 
sitting,  standing,  walking,  sleeping  or  wak- 
ing, with  careful  attention  to  these  lessons, 
any  one  can  so  re-establish  that  diaphragm- 


124  Rhythmic  Breathmg  plus 

atic  rhythm  which  every  one  is  really  born 
with  that  he  will  never  lose  it  again.  In 
from  one  to  three  weeks  the  habit  will  be  so 
formed  that  this  rhythm,  or  law  of  expan- 
sion and  contraction,  which  puts  one  in  vital 
touch  with  the  universe,  and  which  vibrates 
every  internal  organ  with  every  breath  and 
regulates  their  blood  supply,  also  their  func- 
tions of  excretion  and  secretion,  will  take 
care  of  itself,  and  the  old  method  of  chest 
expansion  only  would  be  fatiguing  by  com- 
parison. 

In  acquiring  the  deep  breath  the  left 
nostril  is  used,  because  it  is  on  the  negative 
side  of  the  body,  and  because  it  quickly  over- 
comes the  habit  of  high-chest  breathing. 

Exercise  i.  To  purify  the  system,  inspire 
slowly  through  the  left  nostril  while  in  the 
recumbent  position,  taking  care  that  the  ab- 
dominal muscles  expand  while  inspiring; 
hold  both  nostrils  shut  as  long  as  comfort- 
able, then  slowly  expire  through  both  nos- 
trils ;  repeat  several  times,  near  an  open  win- 
dow. Many  diseases  that  are  caused  by  im- 
perfect oxygenation  of  the  blood  are  cured 
by  this  exercise  alone.  It  is  well  to  take  this 
exercise  in  walking  also,  and  after  the  dia- 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         125 

phragm    rhythm    becomes   natural,    in   any 
position. 

Exercise  2,  Students  must  note  the  fact 
that  it  is  impossible  to  learn  the  costal  and 
diaphragm  rhythm  at  the  first  few  efforts, 
excepting  in  the  recumbent  position;  then  it 
becomes  natural  in  any  position.  No  muscu- 
lar or  violent  physical  culture  exercises  are 
permitted  with  any  of  these  lessons.  All 
must  be  done  calmly  and  quietly,  and  by 
breath  control  alone — energizing  the  nerves, 
by  tensing  them  in  any  part  of  the  body,  just 
as  long  as  the  breath  can  be  comfortably  held 
without  muscular  effort.  In  this  method 
Nature  takes  care  of  the  chest,  and  by  costal 
and  abdominal  expansion  with  each  inspira- 
tion, the  lungs  gain  more  elasticity  and  ex- 
pansion and  entirely  lose  the  sense  of  con- 
striction that  is  felt  with  chest  expansion 
only.  Every  purchaser  of  this  book  to  whom 
this  or  other  exercises  may  not  be  quite  clear 
is  entitled  to  a  free  letter  of  explanation 
from  the  publisher.  Practiced  twice  a  day, 
and  for  about  ten  minutes,  on  rising  and  re- 
tiring, this  method  will  keep  any  one  in  per- 
fect health,  if  done  correctly.  Ahne  of  these 
lessons  arc   occult,   obscure   or   difficult,   a 


126  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

knowledge  of  which  we  wish  to  diffuse 
among  the  milHons  all  over  the  world 
who  are  scattering  instead  of  conserving 
their  life  forces.  If,  for  a  moment,  any  of 
the  exercises  causes  a  feeling  of  dizziness, 
that  merely  indicates  that  the  circulation  is 
quickened  and  the  brain  getting  a  better 
blood  supply.  It  only  lasts  a  moment  and 
is  beneficial. 

Exercise  j.  When  the  costal  and  abdom- 
inal rhythm  is  thoroughly  mastered  in  the 
recumbent  position,  then  practice  it  sitting 
and  standing  and  walking. 

Exercise  4.  The  standing  posture  in  deep 
breathing  is  easily  learned  if  the  student 
stands  with  the  abdomen  against  a  door  or 
wall,  which  enables  him  to  feel  resistance. 
This  is  usually  difficult  at  first,  but  with  a 
little  practice  is  soon  overcome,  and  the  ten- 
dency to  inflate  the  chest  only  will  be  broken. 
Also  lie  upon  the  floor,  face  downward. 

Exercise  5.  In  all  positions  of  sitting, 
standing  and  walking  carry  the  chest  up  and 
forward,  placing  the  ball  of  the  foot  first 
on  the  ground  in  walking,  instead  of  the 
heel.  When  the  chest  is  allowed  to  slump 
downward,  in  sitting  or  standing,  it  crowds 


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RIGHT    WAY    TO    STAND    AND    WALK 

Chest  Up  and  forward.  Mental  impulse  of  starting  to 
walk.  This  flattens  abdomen,  strengthens  torso  and 
spinal  column  without  conscious  effort ;  control  breath. 


ENERGIZING  THE  WHOLE  BODY  THROUGH  BREATH   CONTROL 
WITHOUT  MUSCULAR  EFFORT 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         127 

all  the  internal  organs  out  of  proper  position. 
After  the  student  has  thoroughly  learned  to 
hold  the  deep  breath  with  expansion  of  all 
chest  diameters,  any  of  the  following  exer- 
cises will  help  to  generate  ''a  sound  mind  in 
a  sound  body"  by  arousing  vital  energy  and 
diverting  it,  through  conscious  nerve  tensing 
or  energizing,  to  any  part  of  the  body, 
always  remembering,  that  the  deep  breath- 
ing interval,  held  with  expansion  instead 
of  contraction,  is  the  keynote  to  success. 

Exercise  6.  Control  the  breath,  tense  the 
hands  and  arms,  and  raise  them  slowly  out- 
ward and  upward,  gently  swaying  the  body 
forward  and  backward,  and  from  side  to 
side,  taking  a  new  breath  with  each  move- 
ment, always  keeping  the  weight  of  the  body 
on  the  balls  of  the  feet.  This  radiates  en- 
ergy to  every  part  of  the  body,  deepens  the 
voice,  and  strengthens  the  vocal  register. 

Exercise  7.  To  reduce  superfluous  flesh, 
tense  the  whole  body,  kneel  on  the  floor,  and 
lay  forehead  on  the  ground  without  touching 
the  floor  with  hands  or  arms;  then  slowly 
sway  backward  as  far  as  possible,  taking  a 
fresh  breath  with  each  movement. 

Exercise  8.     To  reduce  abdomen  and  re- 


l28  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

store  contour  of  waist  and  loins,  lie  flat  on 
the  floor,  face  downwards,  and  slowly  rise 
on  hands  and  toes  while  holding  the  breath, 
and  gently  lower  and  raise  the  body  from 
the  floor;  repeat  slowly  many  times — one 
movement  with  each  breath.  Also,  roll  on 
floor. 

Exercise  p.  A  stretching  and  reaching 
movement  to  restore  suppleness  of  contour : 
Tense  the  whole  body;  control  the  breath; 
poise  on  the  balls  of  the  feet  alternately, 
slowly  swinging  the  body,  pointing  upward 
and  downward  in  every  possible  position  and 
curve. 

Exercise  lo.  Especially  good  for  poor 
circulation,  building  up  the  throat  and  chest, 
and  improving  depth  of  voice:  Stoop  for 
imaginary  weights  and,  with  tensed  muscles, 
throw  them  in  every  direction.  Pick  up  im- 
aginary heavy  weights  and,  with  tensed 
muscles,  raise  arms  up  in  front,  over  top  of 
head,  bending  and  stretching  from  front  to 
back  slowly. 

Exercise  ii.  Stand  in  the  open  doorway, 
expand  abdomen,  hold  the  breath,  grasp  the 
door  posts  as  high  as  possible;  this  will  raise 
and  support  the  internal  organs.    Tense  the 


Note  the  marvelous  provision  of  Nature  in  the  attach- 
ment of  the  ribs  to  the  breast-bone,  each  with  its  own  little 
strip  of  cartilage,  to  admit  of  expansion  when  lungs  in- 
flate. Note  also  how  easily  the  lower  ribs  may  be  perma- 
nently injured  in  the  young  girl  by  tight-lacing. 


Control  breath,  raise  knee,  bend  over  and  touch  it  with 
chin.     Excellent  for  reducing  thick  waist  lines. 


Stoop,  keeping  back  straight  from  hips  to  neck,  sway 
from  side.  Splendid  in  both  sexes  for  strengthening  small 
of  back. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         129 

lower  limbs  alternately  backward  and  for- 
ward, toes  pointed  downward,  knees  stiff; 
one  movement  for  each  breath,  controlled  as 
long  as  comfortable.  This  is  especially  good 
for  pelvic  organs.  Also  energize  whole  body 
by  balancing  on  alternate  feet. 

Exercise  12,  Especially  good  for  ener- 
gizing nerve  centers,  liver  and  spleen,  and  to 
divert  nerve  energy  to  any  organ  or  tissue  of 
the  body,  head,  face  or  throat :  Press  firmly, 
with  flat  hands,  any  part  of  the  body,  breathe 
deeply,  expand,  and  consciously  divert  the 
energy  created  by  the  breath  to  any  selected 
spot.  This  same  energy  can  be  diverted  to 
the  throat  and  vocal  chords. 

Exercises  ij,  14.,  Especially  good  for 
clearing  air  passages  and  preventing  colds: 
Stand  by  open  window  (especially  on  aris- 
ing in  the  morning),  close  alternately  each 
nostril  with  finger  and  gently  inhale  up  one, 
then  close  it,  while  exhaling  gently  down 
the  other ;  then  inhale  and  exhale  alternafely 
up  one  and  down  the  other,  making  it  a  head 
or  nasal  breath  as  much  as  possible.  Then 
take  a  long  breath,  exhale  it  very  slowly, 
but  forcibly  through  a  pipe-stem;  this 
energizes    the    air    passages    of    the    nose 


130  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

and  throat,  and  prevents  deafness  and 
catarrh.  Puff  cheeks  as  in  blowing  exercise. 
To  strengthen  the  throat  and  the  vocal 
chords,  divert  the  breath  to  the  muscles  at  the 
base  of  the  throat,  hold  it  there  by  placing 
the  tongue  at  the  back  of  the  upper  front 
teeth,  where  it  would  be  if  sounding  a 
word  ending  with  th^  such  as  south.  Alter- 
nately yawn  and  swallow,  which  raises  and 
lowers  the  glottis  to  its  highest  and  lowest 
limits;  sing  the  sounds  oo-haw  outside  the 
lips  in  one  breath.  See  chapter  on  Voice 
Building. 

Many  other  simple  exercises  will  evofve 
in  the  student's  mind.  All  we  ask  is,  that  no 
ordinary  physical  culture  or  violent  muscle 
movements  be  made.  Let  the  rhythmic 
breath  be  the  keynote,  and  write  to  the  pub- 
lisher if  further  explanation  be  needed.  In 
all  these  exercises  use  expansion,  contraction 
and  resistajtce. 

For  those  who  do  not  yet  realize  what  di- 
verting conscious  energy  to  any  part  of  the 
body  means,  they  can  understand  it  readily 
if  they  will  lie  down,  take  the  rhythmic 
breath,  and  control  it,  while  another  person 
tries  to  raise  an  arm  or  a  limb,  the  student 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence  131 

resisting  mentally  the  effort  of  the  other  per- 
son as  long  as  the  breath  can  be  comfortably 
controlled. 

Efforts  of  this  nature  are  particularly  use- 
ful to  invalids  and  persons  of  advanced  years. 
Resistance  exercises  are  the  basis  of  much 
of  the  treatment  at  foreign  watering  places, 
and  would  be  doubly  efficacious  if  combined 
with  lessons  in  rhythmic  breathing  and  con- 
trolled breath.  In  the  health  culture  exer- 
cises outlined  in  this  book  the  reader  must 
bear  in  mind  that  correct  breathing  involves 
the  function  of  smelling. 

First,  and  always,  every  morning  on  aris- 
ing from  slumber,  go  to  an  open  window  and 
energize  the  nasal  chambers  and  air  pas- 
sages by  alternate  nostril  breathing  (see 
Exercises  13,  14),  and  by  a  close  adherence 
to  the  basic  principles  laid  down  in  this 
lesson-book,  renewed  vitality  and  the  power 
to  consciously  energize  or  relax  every  nerve 
and  muscle  will  be  the  reward  of  the  student. 

For  further  instructions,  write  publisher, 

RICHARD  B.  NOBLE 
Huntington  Chambers,  Boston,  Mass. 


Jireatljing  Crusfabe  for  tde  ^rebention 
of  Wnbtvtnloai^  in  Cttlbten 

Organized  and  Chartered  under  National  and  State  Laws  of  U.  S.  A. 


Endorsed  by  the  American  International  Congress  (meeting  in 

joint  session  with  New  York  Medico-Legal  Society), 

November,  igo6. 


Internationally  Recognized  as  One  of  the  Most  Important  Educational 

Movements  of  the  20th  Century  y  one  that  will  leave  its  imprint 

on  coming  generations. 


Founder  and  Assistant  Superin- 
tendents 

Emily  Noble  (returned  from  India),  New 
York  City  and  Boston,  Mass.,  Founder 
and  Superintendent. 

Miss  Alys  E.  Bentley,  Director  of  Music 
in  Public  Schools,  Washington,  D.  C, 
Center. 

Miss  E.  C.  Westcott,  Principal  Western 
High  School,  Washington,  D.  C, 
Center. 

R.  B.  Noble,  Publisher,  Boston,  Mass. 
(Huntington  Chambers.) 

Treasurer,  William  J.  Keeley,  Esq.,  New 
York  City. 

Secretary,  Mrs.  W.  J.  Keeley,  The  Ply- 
mouth, West  149th  Street. 

Among  the  Board  of  Directors  and  those 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         133 

who  endorse  this  movement  can  be  found  the 
names  of  some  of  the  most  prominent  men 
and  women  of  the  day,  including  Presidents 
of  Medical  Societies,  Army  Generals,  Sen- 
ators, Ministers,  Bankers,  Editors  and  Ed- 
ucators. 

At  a  meeting  held  March  27,  1907,  by  the 
promoters  and  organizers  of  the  above- 
named  crusade,  it  was  unanimously 

Resolved,  That  the  above-mentioned 
crusade  be,  on  said  date,  duly  organized  and 
chartered  upon  the  basis  of  the  annexed 
programme. 

Whereas,  The  founder  and  co-workers 
of  the  above-mentioned  crusade,  having  ma- 
tured the  plans  and  work  of  the  past  three 
years  into  successful  realization  and  public 
recognition,  now  Resolve  to  extend  and  prop- 
agate the  activity  of  the  crusade  as  an  edu- 
cational branch  of  the  physical  development 
of  children. 

OBJECT  OF  THE  CRUSADE 

To  establish  centers  in  all  large  cities, 
where  parents  and  teachers  may  obtain  free 
scientific  instruction  and  practical  sugges- 
tions for  the  prevention  of  nasal  and  pul- 
monary troubles  in  children. 

During  her  recent  visit  to  Washington, 
D.  C,  to  lecture  (by  the  invitation  of  the 
Board  of  Education  of  the  District  of  Co- 


134  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

lumbia,  Washington,  D.  C),  the  founder 
personally  invited  the  fullest  investigation  of 
this  Crusade  of  the  Surgeons-General  of  the 
Army,  Navy  and  Marine  Hospital  Service. 
And  the  Board  of  Directors  of  this  Crusade 
and  organization  cordially  invite  the  investi- 
gation and  co-operation  of  all  State  and 
Municipal  Boards  of  Health  and  Education. 

The  founder  of  this  Crusade  continues  to 
accept  invitations  from  Medical  and  School 
Boards,  Mothers'  Congresses,  Musical  So- 
cieties, etc.,  to  give  lecture  demonstrations  on 
rhythmic  breathing  and  v^hat  its  correct  de- 
velopment means  for  the  human  body.  Her 
''Method  for  the  Millions"  v^ho  only  half 
breathe  is  the  key  to  practical  daily  physical 
regeneration  from  the  cradle  to  the  century 
mark.  Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox  says  of  it: 
*'.  .  .of  more  value  to  the  health  of  the 
growing  race  than  all  the  scientific  books 
written  by  all  the  physicians  of  the  world.'' 

'T  am  simply  amazed  at  the  benefit  I  have 
received  from  the  lessons  in  deep  breathing. 
This  is  the  greatest  thing  that  has  come  into 
my  life  as  a  regenerating  force.  I  wish  it 
might  be  taught  to  all  children.  I  am  firmly 
of  the  belief  that  it  would  eliminate  the 
catarrhal  and  pulmonary  troubles  character- 
istic of  this  climate." — E.  C.  Westcott, 
Principal,  Western  High  School,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         135 

Madras  Times,  India,  July  20,  1901.— 
*'Dr.  Emily  Noble  has  come  to  India  at  the 
invitation  of  some  of  our  most  prominent 
native  gentlemen,  to  investigate  Light  and 
Electro-Therapeutics  in  their  action  on  dis- 
eases peculiar  to  India.  The  lectures  of  this 
gifted  woman-physician  and  lecturer,  are 
looked  forward  to  with  keen  interest.  She 
has  come  to  us  with  highest  credentials,  both 
medical  and  social,  and  to  substitute 
Dr.  E.  D.  Babitt  of  California." 

Associated  Press. — ''Since  her  return  from 
the  Orient,  Emily  Noble  has  exchanged  the 
medical  for  the  lecture  field,  and  has  no  rival 
in  her  travel  talks  of  life  in  other  lands.  She 
has  an  international  reputation  as  a  writer 
on  health  and  travel,  and  has  had  the  unique 
distinction  of  raising  the  American  flag  with 
full  military  honors.  She  is  a  popular 
speaker  on  the  lecture  platform,  a  member  of 
the  Pacific  Coast  Press  Association,  the 
Medico-Legal  Society  of  New  York,  the 
Women's  Health  Protective  Association  of 
New  York,  the  American  International  Con- 
gress on  Tuberculosis,  the  English  Order  of 
St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  the  Red  Cross  Society 
of  the  United  States  of  America  and  other 
societies  of  note." 

Associated  Press,  New  York,  Novem- 
ber 15,  1906. — ''Among  the  best  of  the  many 
excellent  addresses  before  the  American  In- 


136  Rhythmic  Breathing  plus 

ternational  Congress  on  Tuberculosis,  meet- 
ing in  joint  session  with  the  New  York  Med- 
ico-Legal Society,  was  one  on  'Practical 
Methods  for  the  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis 
in  Children,'  by  Dr.  Emily  Noble  of  Cali- 
fornia." 

Much  of  the  work  of  the  founder  of  this 
Crusade  is  free. 

During  the  past  two  years  more  than  ten 
thousand  mothers,  and  teachers,  and  children 
have  been  instructed.  All  are  urged  to  join 
an  endless  chain  of  Crusaders  and  unite  in 
gaining  knowledge  that  will  stamp  out  the 
greatest  menace  to  the  lives  of  children  the 
world  has  ever  known.  Knowledge  is  pozver. 
Begin  now, 

''So  are  they  blessing  Emily  Noble  for  her 
crusade  work  against  consumption,  and  so 
should  Dr.  Whitehead  be  blessed  for  her 
strong  words  regarding  the  ignorance  of 
public  school  teachers  and  mothers  on  this 
important  subject. 

"Mothers  and  teachers!  Why,  were  they 
properly  educated  in  these  simple  truths,  and 
properly  awakened  to  their  influence,  what  a 
world  ours  would  be! 

'T  would  like  to  see  some  one  community 
put  into  the  hands  of  four  persons  for  the 
next  fifteen  years  and  the  results  carefully 
watched.  These  persons  would  be  Luther 
Burbank^  author  of  'Training  of  the  Hu- 


Olfactory  Nerve  Influence         137 

man  Plant' ;  Emily  Noble,  Eugene  Christian 
and  Dr.  Whitehead.   .    .    . 

"I  am  very  sure  that  were  this  done  the 
community  would  receive  the  blue  ribbon 
of  the  whole  world  at  the  end  of  fifteen 
years  for  vigorous,  healthy,  happy  and  moral 
people." — Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox  (Syndi- 
cate), May  14,  1908. 

EMILY   NOBLE, 

Murray  Hill  Hotel, 
New  York  City. 


All  Rights  Reserved 


INDEX 


Abdomen,    obtrusive,    58. 

Abernethy,   Dr.,    117. 

Acids,   44,   61. 

Acorn,   58. 

Adipose,   superfluous,    52. 

Air,   12. 

Air,  filtering  the,  3. 

Air-cells,  8. 

Air-sacs,  8. 

Alcohol,  abstinence  from,  32. 

American  food  products,  47. 

Anesthesia,    7. 

Animal  food,  abstinence  from,  32. 

Arterial  blood,  7. 

Arterial  degeneration,  32. 

Asepsis,   7. 

Atkins,  Dr.  Albert  J.,    121. 

Auto-massage,    104. 

B 

Bacteria,  23,  33. 

Eaines,  A.   E.,  43. 

Banting   cure,    60. 

Beans,  43. 

Beethoven,  85. 

Eentley,  Alys  E.,   73. 

Biceps,   bulgy,   92. 

Bleyer,  Dr.,   80. 

Blood,    circulation   of,    34. 

Blood  stream,    12,   31. 

Blowing  exercises,    96. 

Body  building,    15. 

Body    building,    cellular    process 

of,  29. 
Body,  drainage  of,   35. 
Body,  reconstruction   of,   31. 
Brain   workers,    15. 
Bread,   gluten,   54. 
Breath,    12,   14. 


Breath,    control    of    the,    15,    68. 
Breath  exercise,   a,  97. 
Breath,  exhalation  of  the,  57. 
Breathing  capacity,  natural,   14. 
Breathing,  cessation   of,    i. 
Breathing,  correct,   21,   35. 
Breathing,  costal,  65. 
Breathing,  defective,    11. 
Breathing,   function  of,    13. 
Breathing  gymnastics,  60. 
Breathing,  high  chest,  65,   124. 
Breathing  muscles,   62. 
Breathing,   normal,  9,   65. 
Breathing,  normal,  a  lost  art,  67. 
Breathing,  rhythm   in,   33. 
Breathing,  value  of  deep,  25. 
Breathing,  Yogi  system  of,   18. 
Buttermilk,   32. 


Campbell,  Dr.  Lloyd  M.,  42. 

Capillaries,   8. 

Carbon,    54. 

Cellular  process  of  body  build- 
ing,  29. 

Cellular  tissue,  reconstruction 
of,    45- 

Chemical  structures,  2. 

Chest,  additional  measurement 
of  the,  66. 

Chest,  overdeveloped,  92. 

Chittenden,  Professor  Russell 
H.,   38. 

Chladni,  "jd. 

Circulation  of  the  blood,  34. 

Circulatory  system,    15. 

Clergymen's  throat,   69. 

Cocoa,   43. 

Coffee,  43,  61. 

"Cohibitio  spiritus,"  68. 


140 


Index 


Colds,   ordinary,   25. 
Concentration      and      relaxation, 

los. 
Constipation,    52. 
Consumptive,     chances     of,      for 

complete   recovery,   24. 
Constrictors,   3. 
Contour  culture,  99. 
Contouring,    123. 
Contraction,     rhythmic    law    of, 

33- 
Corpuscles,   32. 
Corpulence,    53. 

Corpuscles,  function  of  the,  32. 
Creative  forces,  31. 


Dallas,  68. 

Dancing,   94. 

Deficient  supply  of   food,   30. 

Degeneracy,    mental    and    moral, 

45. 
Depew,  Senator  Chauncey,   ri6. 
Destructive  forces,  31. 
Dead  vegetable  matter,    34. 
Decaying  vegetable  matter,   34. 
Dextrins,   41. 
Diaphragm,  65. 
Diet,  44. 
Diet,  mixed,   54. 
Diet,  simplicity    of,    46. 
Dietary,   reducing,    61. 
Dietetics,    simplified,    37. 
Dieting  for  putting  on  flesh,  60. 
Digestion,   disturbed,   44. 
Dilators,   3. 
Dionysius,    59. 
Disease,  prevention  of,   33. 
Disease,  resistance  to,    13. 


Eating,  aesthetics  of,  40. 
Edison,  Thomas  A.,  80. 
El   Cornaro,   114. 
Electro-chemic  energy,  24. 


Electro-chemic  processes,   23. 

Elephant,  the,   35. 

Emotions,    58. 

Energy,  well-directed,   29. 

Exercise  i,   124. 

Exercise  2,   125. 

Exercise  3,   126. 

Exercise  4,   126. 

Exercise  5,   126. 

Exercise  6,  127. 

Exercise  7,   127. 

Exercise  8,    127. 

Exercise  9,   128. 

Exercise  10,   128. 

Exercise  11,   128. 

Exercise  12,  129. 

Fixer  cise  13,   129. 

Exercise  14,   129. 

Exhalation,    11. 

Exercise    for   reducing  waist  line, 

100,    103. 
Exercises    for    strengthening   the 

muscles  of  the  eyes,  97. 
Exercises,  introduction  to,  rai. 
Exercises,  respiratory,   35. 
Exhaustion,  nervous,    15. 
Expansion    and    contraction,    law 

of,  92,   123. 
Expansion,  rhythmic  law  of,  33. 


Faraday,  77. 

Far  East,  people  of  the,  35. 

Fat,    55. 

Fat  people,  58. 

Filtering  the  air,  3. 

Fisher,  Professor  Irving,  39. 

Fission,  33. 

Fletcherism,  42. 

Food,  12,  43,  56. 

Food,      appearance,      odor,      and 

palatability   of,   40. 
Food,  insufficient,  45. 
Food,  superfluous,    32. 
Foods,  highly  seasoned,  58. 
Foods,  starchy,  60. 


Index 


141 


Poods,  white,   6r. 
Fruits,  43. 
Fungi,  33. 


Galen,   59. 

Galileo,   76. 

Geometric   scale,    a,    76. 

Goldsmith,   no. 

Grain,  43. 

Growing   old,   55. 

Gymnastic  appliances,   94. 


Haig,   Dr,   Alexander,  43. 

Heart,  57. 

Heart  disease,    10 1. 

Hemholtz,    75. 

Henderson,  C.  Hanford,  74. 

Higgins,  Dr.  Hubert,  42. 

Hindu  literature,  75. 

Hindu  story,   119. 

Hippocrates,   52,   59. 

Human  being,    58. 

Human      body,      upbuilding 

the,  23. 
Human  glands,  juices  of,  23. 


of 


Infection,  germ  theory  of,  13. 
Inhalation,    11. 


Japanese,  92. 


K 


King   Solomon,   74. 


Life,  key  to,   13. 
Life,  sources  of,  21, 
Light  wines,  61. 
Longevity,  first  aid  to,  118. 
Lung  capacity,  overtaxing,    14. 


Lung     development,     insufficient, 

12. 
Lung       trouble,       predisposition 

to,  25. 
Lung     trouble,     signs     of     early 

stages  of,   25. 
Lungs,   8,    17. 

Lymphatic  temperament,   53. 
Lymphatics,    34. 

M 

Mahabharatta,   the,   84. 

Mal-nutrition,   102. 

Marga  Sangita,  84. 

Mastication,  thorough,  40. 

Metchnikoff,   114. 

Milk,  60. 

Mixed  diet,    54. 

Mouth,   13. 

Mouth   breathing  children,   92. 

Muscles,    throat,    69. 

Music,  origin  of,  81. 

N 

Nasal  fossae,  4. 

Nasal  hygiene,  7. 

Nasal  tendencies,  prevention  of, 
12. 

Nerve  energizing,    123. 

Nerves,  control  of  the,    15. 

Nervous  system,  15. 

Nervous  system,  certain  func- 
tions of  the,    56. 

Nitrogenous  foods,   53. 

Nose,  3. 

Nose,  functions  of  the,  3. 

Nostrils,   13. 

Nutrition,  45. 

Nutrition,  cellular,   23. 

Nutrition,  debilitated,    24. 

Nutrition,  proper,  45. 

Nuts,  43. 

O 

Obesity,  dieting  for,  60. 
Obtrusive  abdomen,   58. 


142 


Index 


Old  age,  germ  of,  32. 
Old  age,  postponement   of,   33. 
Old  age,  problem  of,  22. 
Olfactory  bulb,  4,   6. 
Olfactory  nerve  bulb,   10. 
Olfactory  nerve    bulb,    terminals 

of  the,  4. 
Olfactory      nerve      influence,     2, 

II,  66. 
Olfactory  mucous    membrane,    4. 
Olfactory  region,  4. 
Ordinary   colds,   25. 
Orientals,  the,    112. 
Osier,   Dr.,    7. 

Outdoor  life,  lack  of  sufficient,  31. 
Overeating,   54. 
Overwork,    30. 
Oxygen,  8. 

Oxygen,  atmospheric,  7. 
Oxygen,  lack  of,   55. 
Oxygenization,   11. 


Pastry,  61. 

Personal  hygiene,  value  of,  25. 

Phagocytes,  23. 

Physical  culture,   14. 

Physical  efforts,    54. 

Physical    endurance,    overtaxing, 

15- 
Physical     regeneration,    key    to, 

13. 

Physical  strength,  rapid  increase 
in,    66. 

Plato,  68. 

Poise  exercises,    123. 

Pores,  congestion  of,  34. 

Poverty,  45. 

Proteids,  39. 

Public   speakers,    69. 

Puddings,   61. 

Pulmonary  tendencies,  preven- 
tion of,   12. 

Putting  on  flesh,  dieting  for,  60. 

Pythagoras,   47. 


Ramayana,   the,   84. 

Reconstruction  of  cellular  tissue, 
45- 

Reconstruction  of  the  body,  31. 

Recumbent  position,   122. 

Red  corpuscles,   32. 

Reducing  dietary,  61. 

Resonators,  4. 

Respiration,    11, 

Respiration,  chemical  theory 
of,   8. 

Respiration,   muscles  of,   3. 

Resiratory  exercises,  21. 

Respiratory  tract,   3. 

Rhythm,  92. 

Rhythm,  normal,    10,  93. 

Rhythm  and  controlled  breath, 
88. 

Rhythmic  breath,   14,   17. 

Rhythmic  breath,  how  to  re- 
establish,   22. 

Rhythmic  breathing,  2,  13,  69, 
100. 

Rhythmic  law  of  contraction,  33. 

Rig  Veda,  82. 

Rishas,  82. 


Sage,  Mrs.  Russell,  115. 

Salads,   54. 

Saliva,  23,  40.  ■ 

Sanguine-bilious  temperament,  53. 

Sanitation,   7. 

Saraswati,   81. 

Self-control,   29. 

Simple  living,  science  of,  41. 

Simplicity   of   diet,   46. 

Simplified  dietetics,  37. 

Sita,   86. 

Sound  cavities,  4. 

Sounds,    63. 

Sour  milk,   32. 

Speaking    voice,    improving    the, 

72. 
Starch,  41, 


Index 


143 


Stomach,    impaired    function    of 

the,   30. 
Stout   people,    53. 
Sub-acid    fruits,    61. 
Sugar,   60. 
Sun,   electrical  energy  bound  up 

in  the,  36. 
Superfluous  adipose,  52. 
Swallowing,    56. 
Sweets,  60. 
System  of  irrigation,   30. 


Tea,  43,  61. 

Thoughts,    58. 

Tissues,    34. 

Tone  placing,   4,    71. 

Tone  placing,  wrong,   72. 

Torso,   muscles  of  the,   95. 

Tubercle  bacilli,    24. 

Tuberculosis,   germ   of,    24. 

Tuberculosis,    prevention   of,    20. 

Turkish   bath,   60. 

Tyndall,  75. 

U 

Uncooked  food,  abstinence  from, 

32. 
Universal   energy,   2,   56. 


Upanishads,    68. 
Uric  acid,  43. 

V 

Vegetables,   43. 

Vegetables,   green,   54. 

Venous  blood,   7. 

Vibrissie,    3. 

Vital    energy,    renewal    of.     43, 

102. 
Vocal  chords,  71. 
\'ocal  sounds,   quality  of,   71. 
Voice  building,   4. 
Voice  building,  rightly  placed,  62. 

W 

Wagner,  85. 
Water,  12,  45,  46,  61. 
Water,   hot,    54. 
Well-directed   energy,    29. 
Wheatstone,  Professor,  78. 
White  corpuscles,   32. 
Wilson,   Dr.   James,   46. 


Yogi,  19. 

Yogi   breath,    19. 


STUDENTS'    NOTES 


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